Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has predicted that traditional initial public offerings will migrate fully onto blockchain rails, arguing that tokenized public listings would give companies round-the-clock liquidity, seamless interoperability with DeFi protocols, and direct access to global retail capital.
The forecast is being tested by the artificial intelligence sector. Anthropic, the creator of Claude, has seen on-chain derivatives tied to its shares surge into millions of dollars in daily volume ahead of its official Wall Street debut. Anthropic’s roadshow is scheduled for mid-October 2026, and the company reported $65 billion in annualized revenue by the end of the summer, posting its first operating profit. Pre-IPO derivatives have traded in Web3 since June.
On Binance’s TradFi Perps, the ANTHROPICUSDT contract traded at 2,012.50 USDT with $21.1 million in daily volume, while on Hyperliquid the ANTH-USDC contract traded at a premium of $2,157.3, up 7.78% over 24 hours, with $22.5 million in open interest and $15.9 million in daily turnover. The combined buying activity implies an expected valuation around $2 trillion for Anthropic.
CZ’s argument is supported by broader real-world asset infrastructure, which has a total market capitalization of $33.6 billion, with tokenized stocks and ETFs accounting for about $3 billion. Binance’s bStocks platform holds 21% of that segment, or $627.5 million, across 981,215 holders. Still, tokenized stocks remain tiny compared with the traditional U.S. stock market, which exceeds $55 trillion in capitalization, while the NYSE alone posts $100–150 billion in average daily turnover.
The main hurdle is legal: exchanges warn that pre-IPO derivatives are purely synthetic contracts based on price expectations, do not grant voting rights, and settle at the actual opening price on listing day. Securities laws still apply, and liquidity and investor rights remain key challenges. Nevertheless, the multimillion-dollar, round-the-clock trading volumes on Binance and Hyperliquid are forcing traditional investment banks to pay attention, blurring the line between traditional IPOs and blockchain markets.
