OKX joins crypto’s pre-IPO frenzy with OpenAI, SpaceX perpetual futures

OKX said it will launch perpetual futures tied to private firms including OpenAI, SpaceX and Anthropic, joining Bitget and Injective in offering pre-IPO synthetic exposure on-chain. The products provide price speculation without equity ownership or shareholder rights, and follow earlier experiments (e.g., Robinhood’s OpenAI-linked tokens) that drew pushback. For markets, the move broadens exchanges’ revenue opportunities beyond spot BTC and ETH trading by creating new derivative flows and retail speculation around high-profile private companies, but also raises potential regulatory and reputational risk as platforms blur lines between crypto derivatives and private equity exposure.