Kraken launches pre-IPO perpetuals for OpenAI and Anthropic
On Sept. 6, 2026, Kraken moved to expand its private-market derivatives lineup by promoting perpetual futures tied to Anthropic, a product family that also includes OpenAI and was first announced by the exchange in June. The Anthropic contract trades under the symbol PF_ANTHROPICXUSD, and the OpenAI contract trades under PF_OPENAIXUSD. Both are cash-settled perpetuals with no expiry date, long and short positioning, and the ability to use multi-collateral margin.
- Kraken offers maximum leverage of 5x globally in eligible markets.
- The contracts are cash settled and provide price exposure without shares, voting rights, dividends or ownership.
- Customers in the U.S., EEA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are excluded from these products entirely.
- Pricing relies on a smoothed synthetic index with mark prices clamped within a 0.25% band continuously.
- Kraken plans to shift pricing rules if either company completes an IPO.
Perpetuals are derivatives, not company shares
The products are derivatives designed to track traders’ expectations of each company’s value. They do not represent shares issued by OpenAI or Anthropic, and Kraken says it has no affiliation with, endorsement from, or sponsorship by OpenAI or Anthropic. A customer who buys either contract does not appear on a company shareholder register and receives no voting rights, dividends, information rights or access to a future public offering, nor does the holder have any claim on OpenAI or Anthropic assets.
Instead, the contracts settle in U.S. dollars through Kraken’s multi-collateral derivatives account. Eligible users can provide several supported assets as margin, subject to the exchange’s collateral haircuts and risk rules.
According to Kraken, traders can use the contracts to take directional positions or hedge other exposure. The claim that a trader can hedge an existing Anthropic position, however, depends on how closely the synthetic futures price follows the value of any private shares held elsewhere. Private-company shares do not trade continuously on a centralized public exchange; transactions can occur through private secondary markets at different prices and under varying transfer restrictions. As a result, the futures contract may move differently from a particular private shareholding. Crypto.news has previously explained how the structure creates a market for private-company valuations without a continuously traded underlying stock.
Synthetic pricing replaces a public stock index
Normal equity futures can use an exchange price as an external reference. Kraken cannot do that for OpenAI or Anthropic because neither company has publicly traded shares. Instead, the exchange created the Kraken PreMarket Synthetic index. Its value comes from activity in the perpetual market itself rather than from an independent public share price. Kraken applies exponential smoothing to the index, reducing the influence of short-lived order-book movements and causing the reference value to adjust gradually when market prices change.
The mark prices are also restricted to within 0.25% above or below the synthetic index. Kraken says this mechanism is designed to limit liquidations caused by momentary price spikes in a thin market. That protection does not remove valuation risk. If participants collectively misprice a private company, the synthetic index can reflect that view because no liquid spot market exists to correct the contract through ordinary arbitrage. Spreads may also be wider than those in mature equity or cryptocurrency futures, and limited liquidity can make opening or closing a position more expensive during volatile periods. A decline in private-company futures following additional exchange listings demonstrated how sharply these contracts can move without a public reference price.
Leverage, funding and liquidation risks
Both contracts offer a base maximum leverage of 5x, meaning a trader must provide initial margin equal to 20% of the position value. The base maintenance margin is 10%; if losses reduce the account below the required level, Kraken can liquidate the position. Leverage decreases for larger positions, with published tiers stepping down from 5x to approximately 3.3x and then 2x as exposure increases.
Funding payments are realized every hour. Kraken describes funding as structurally minimal during the pre-IPO period because the mark price remains within the narrow band around its synthetic index, but that description is a company assessment rather than a guaranteed funding cost. Funding can change as market positioning, liquidity and contract specifications change. The products also carry auto-deleveraging risk: profitable positions may be reduced when the exchange cannot close a liquidated counterparty’s position through the order book.
Kraken warns that customers can lose all of their margin. Its disclosure also says leveraged losses can exceed the trader’s initial deposit, depending on market conditions and account arrangements.
Geographic exclusions and regulatory backdrop
The OpenAI and Anthropic perpetuals are unavailable in the United States, the European Economic Area, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Only professional clients can access them in the United Kingdom. Payward Digital Solutions offers the products from Bermuda and is licensed to conduct digital asset business by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, according to Kraken’s disclosure. These contracts are also separate from Kraken’s regulated U.S. derivatives products.
Other exchanges have built similar markets. Coinbase added private-company perpetuals tied to OpenAI and Anthropic for eligible users outside the U.S., while Hyperliquid and several specialized platforms have offered synthetic exposure to companies approaching public listings. The growth of these products has raised questions about whether private-company derivatives should receive a dedicated regulatory framework. A recent industry request asked the SEC to establish rules for pre-IPO perpetuals and consider eventual U.S. market access; any domestic launch would require regulatory approval and a structure complying with U.S. derivatives and securities laws.
What happens after an IPO
Kraken intends to change the contracts if OpenAI or Anthropic completes an IPO. At that point, the exchange plans to replace its synthetic reference with an index based on the relevant company’s xStocks product. Kraken says initial margin, maintenance margin, position limits and funding rules are expected to change, and it plans to disclose the conversion details before implementing them.
The conversion remains conditional. Neither contract guarantees that the referenced company will complete an IPO, and the existence of a futures market does not provide investors with an allocation in any future offering. If an IPO does not occur or Kraken cannot obtain reliable pricing, it reserves the right to delist and settle the affected contract, and Kraken says it may determine the settlement value under its applicable rules.
A pre-IPO contract’s final synthetic price could also differ materially from the eventual listing price. This gap can produce rapid gains, losses and liquidations when the public market establishes a new reference value. The issue appeared during the expansion of private-company markets, when synthetic contracts converged toward the public share price only as the IPO supplied a verifiable reference.
Kraken has continued expanding that infrastructure. After conversion, the pre-IPO perpetuals are expected to resemble perpetuals tied to its existing xStocks products, which are issued separately and backed by listed securities, unlike the current OpenAI and Anthropic contracts. A recent London Stock Exchange partnership could add major British companies subject to regulatory approval.
