Tokenized products designed to give retail investors exposure to private companies before an IPO suffered sharp losses this week after Anthropic and OpenAI publicly declared that the underlying share transfers to special purpose vehicles (SPVs) are void. The Solana‑based PreStocks tokens representing Anthropic (ANTHROPIC) and OpenAI saw 34% and 39% respective drops over seven days, according to CoinGecko data.
Anthropic stated unequivocally that it does not permit SPVs to acquire its stock and that any such transfer is void under its transfer restrictions. OpenAI issued a parallel warning, noting that unauthorized transactions may violate U.S. securities laws and could invalidate the equity behind the tokens. Both companies listed intermediaries they deem unauthorized, effectively cutting the foundation from under the tokenized products.
These events shine a harsh light on a broader category of “pre‑IPO access” tokens that have proliferated on centralized exchanges like Gate.io (SPCX), Bitget (preSPAX), BingX ($VNTL) and derivatives platforms such as OKX. The first generation of these instruments — often marketed as “SpaceX‑linked” assets — share a set of structural risks that the recent plunge makes impossible to ignore.
Counterparty risk sits at the top of that list. When an investor buys a token like preSPAX, the issuer is Republic International Cayman, not SpaceX. The token is a debt obligation of the issuer, not equity in the aerospace company. If the issuer faces financial distress or regulatory action, the token holder becomes an unsecured creditor of a separate legal entity. Similarly, SPCX and $VNTL rely on the platform or its affiliate to maintain the peg and honor settlement. The sector’s history of exchange insolvencies gives this risk concrete weight.
Valuation opacity is another critical flaw. Because private company shares are not continuously traded, the token prices are anchored to infrequent tender offers, funding rounds, or thin internal markets. PreStocks’ own dashboard showed an implied Anthropic valuation above $1.3 trillion against roughly $23 million in total platform assets — a staggering mismatch that gave the companies the structural opening to push back. Moreover, the platform has never published the promised attestation reports verifying the 1:1 backing through SPVs.
Regulatory uncertainty looms over the entire category. The U.S. SEC has a framework that could classify these digital assets as securities or security‑based swaps. A determination of that kind could lead to delisting, forced redemptions, and enforcement actions. Binance suspended its tokenized stock offerings in 2021 after compliance concerns, and more recently the Bank of Lithuania opened an investigation into Robinhood’s similar products referencing OpenAI and SpaceX. OpenAI itself had already distanced itself from those tokens.
The settlement mechanics upon an actual IPO vary widely and carry their own pitfalls. OKX’s perpetual futures would convert to a standard stock perpetual; Bitget’s preSPAX settles as a debt instrument with issuer‑defined fees; BingX’s RWA token uses a platform‑defined formula. Investors who assume a uniform post‑IPO outcome are likely to be caught off guard.
The warnings from Anthropic and OpenAI validate the concerns that analysts have raised for months: tokenized pre‑IPO products lower the capital barrier to mere dollars, but they strip away voting rights, dividend rights, and the legal protections of direct equity ownership. The current generation of these instruments, lacking transparency, counterparty security, and regulatory clarity, remains a high‑risk gamble. The burden of due diligence rests entirely on the buyer, and for many, that burden just got heavier.
