OKX launches 10x OpenAI, Anthropic X-Perps in Europe

OKX has introduced pre-IPO derivatives tied to OpenAI and Anthropic alongside 100 tokenized stock markets for eligible European traders.

The Sep. 10 announcement from OKX said its new pre-IPO X-Perps allow eligible European customers to trade changes in the implied valuations of OpenAI and Anthropic before either company goes public.

Traders can open long or short positions at any time and apply leverage of up to 10x. However, the contracts do not represent shares in either private company or give their holders an economic claim against the referenced business.

Prices may also differ from valuations set during private funding rounds or from any price established through a future initial public offering. According to the company’s product disclaimer, an IPO could be delayed, canceled, or never take place.

OKX pre-IPO markets track private company valuations

Unlike a direct private-market investment, an X-Perp is a derivative through which traders speculate on the direction of a referenced company’s implied value. Opening the products with OpenAI and Anthropic gives European customers exposure to two closely followed private technology companies without placing their names on a shareholder register.

OKX said traders can enter and exit positions at any time, while each market will open with liquidity intended to support larger trades. Additional pre-IPO contracts will be introduced when the company considers them relevant.

Although the products extend access beyond conventional private markets, leverage raises the potential size of both profits and losses. OKX warned that customers trading X-Perps could lose part or all of their invested funds, particularly when leveraged positions move against them.

Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe, said pre-IPO markets have generally remained unavailable to most European traders through traditional brokerages and regulated platforms. He linked the launch to rising demand for the exchange’s perpetual products following the end of Europe’s MiCA transition period in July.

“X-Perps volume in Europe has grown fourfold since MiCA’s transition period ended in July, and these markets are built for those same traders,” Ghoos said.

According to Ghoos, the company intends to give European users enough liquidity to trade larger positions without requiring them to move to an unregulated venue. OKX did not provide a trading-volume figure or the initial implied valuations assigned to OpenAI and Anthropic in its announcement.

Tokenized stocks add 100 round-the-clock markets

Alongside the pre-IPO contracts, OKX has opened 100 tokenized stock and exchange-traded fund markets. The initial list includes products linked to SpaceX, Google, Nvidia, and Palantir, as well as the SPY and QQQ ETFs.

Customers can buy, sell, or convert the tokens and trade them continuously, including when the traditional markets for their referenced assets are closed. Supported order types include limit, market, stop, time-weighted average price, and Iceberg orders.

Stock tokens can also operate inside OKX’s dollar-cost averaging and Grid trading bots. For customers using multiple products, eligible tokenized positions may serve as collateral for X-Perps, allowing the same account balance to support stock-linked and crypto-linked derivatives.

On-chain transfers give the products another feature not normally available through a standard brokerage account. OKX said supported tokens can be deposited to the platform or withdrawn to external addresses, including self-custody wallets.

Round-the-clock access does not remove the pricing issues created when traditional exchanges are closed. OKX’s disclosure states that the tokens track the price of a referenced share, but holders do not directly own that share and receive no shareholder voting rights.

Company names used for the products do not indicate a partnership or endorsement, the disclosure added. Stock-token holders, therefore, gain price exposure through the instrument issued or supported by the platform rather than membership in the shareholder base of Google, Nvidia, Palantir, or another referenced company.

Ownership rights remain central to tokenized stocks

The distinction between price exposure and direct share ownership has become a central issue as trading platforms list more third-party stock tokens.

In September, crypto.news previously reported that AMC Entertainment objected to a Robinhood token linked to its shares. AMC CEO Adam Aron said his company had neither approved nor participated in the product, while Robinhood maintained that it stood behind its stock-token service.

Robinhood’s product documents described its tokens as debt securities issued by a Jersey entity rather than shares issued by the companies they follow. Buyers received economic exposure but no ownership, voting rights, or direct claim against AMC, creating a distinction similar to the one stated in OKX’s disclosure.

OpenAI raised a related concern in July 2025 after Robinhood distributed tokens offering exposure to the private company. OpenAI said at the time that it had not partnered with Robinhood, did not endorse the tokens, and had not approved a transfer of its equity.

For traders, the structure of each product determines whether a token represents an actual security, a contractual claim against an issuer, or a derivative that follows a reference price. Counterparty and insolvency risks can also differ from those attached to shares held through a conventional regulated broker.

OKX’s pre-IPO disclaimer states that its X-Perps provide no ownership or economic claim in the private company being referenced. Its tokenized stock disclosure separately says those instruments confer neither direct ownership nor shareholder rights.

US regulators are considering a different model

The OKX products have been launched for eligible European traders, leaving American investors outside the stated rollout. In the United States, regulators have been considering how round-the-clock tokenized equity trading could operate under federal securities rules.

On Aug. 17, earlier coverage detailed work by the Securities and Exchange Commission on a limited exemption that could allow selected platforms to test tokenized securities. No final eligibility criteria or implementation date had been announced when that report was published, and existing federal securities requirements remained in force.

SEC staff has distinguished between tokens issued with the involvement of the company whose shares they represent and third-party instruments that merely track a security or provide a claim against another issuer. According to the agency’s position covered in that report, placing a stock on a blockchain does not remove it from U.S. securities law.

Ownership records, custody, disclosures, market surveillance, and investor claims during issuer insolvency remain among the matters U.S. regulators are assessing. Trading outside regular exchange hours also raises questions about price discovery and execution when the underlying cash market is closed.

A regulated model has already entered limited testing in the United States. In March, Nasdaq received SEC approval for eligible participants to trade certain securities in either conventional or tokenized form.

Nasdaq’s pilot covers eligible Russell 1000 stocks and major index-linked ETFs. Under the approved structure, the traditional and tokenized versions carry the same pricing and shareholder rights, unlike products that only follow a company’s market value.

For European customers, OKX has placed the new instruments in the same account as its crypto spot, X-Perps, trading bots, Earn, and Pay services. Users can apply the platform’s order types, automated strategies and margin balance across the supported products without maintaining a separate brokerage account.

Financial instruments and related investment services are offered through OKX Europe Markets Ltd., which the company said is authorized and regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority under Malta’s Investment Services Act.