Crypto Exchange OKX to Offer New AI and Space Bets

OKX is set to roll out a new type of trading product that lets people bet on the value of some of the world’s biggest private tech companies. The contracts will track how much these firms are worth on secondary markets, but they won’t give anyone real ownership or voting rights. Instead, traders can speculate on the price swings of companies such as OpenAI, SpaceX and Anthropic without actually buying shares. This move puts OKX in the same group as other crypto platforms that are looking to give investors a taste of pre‑IPO action. Bitget launched a similar offering in April, and Injective has been doing it since last year. OKX’s plans are still in the planning stage, so a launch date hasn’t been set. The companies chosen for these contracts are the top private players in tech. OpenAI, known for ChatGPT, and Anthropic, which builds the Claude chatbot, dominate the AI scene.SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space company that is preparing for a public listing, also joins the list after merging with his AI venture xAI. Not all of these firms are happy about the idea. When a U. S. trading app tried a similar product last year, OpenAI made it clear that it had no connection to the offering. The company has also moved to give retail investors a way to invest in it indirectly, through a venture fund that holds its shares. Other platforms, like AngelList, now let people buy into funds that include stakes in OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI for as little as $500. The new OKX contracts will let traders play the market’s expectations about how much these companies are worth, without actually owning them. They offer a way to see what the market thinks about future valuations while keeping the trades fully digital.