The Funding: As SpaceX’s listing nears, are pre-IPO perps crypto’s next big market?

About this update from Cerebras Systems Inc.

Earlier this month, TradeXYZ, a Hyperliquid-based decentralized perpetual futures platform, launched pre-IPO perp trading with Cerebras, an AI chipmaker and potential Nvidia competitor, as its first market in the category. Cerebras priced its IPO at $185 per share and opened on Nasdaq at $350. One hour before the open, TradeXYZ was pricing the Cerebras perp at around $340, just 3% below the Nasdaq opening price. Meanwhile, on Hiive, a traditional secondary marketplace, Cerebras shares were trading around $225.The Cerebras market on TradeXYZ quickly became one of the most closely watched examples of how crypto-native pre-IPO markets could potentially offer faster and more accurate price discovery around private company valuations."Retail traders who entered the TradeXYZ perp at or below the $185 IPO offering price on May 1 were up roughly 90% by the Nasdaq open at $350 just 14 days later," said Atomist, the pseudonymous co-founder of crypto investment research firm Castle Labs. "There was no access for retail investors through any offchain venue.""TradeXYZ offered this market when the company's valuation grew the most, from $56.4 billion to $106.8 billion, in the shortest space of time," Atomist added. "In other words, the best period to have a leveraged perp exposure."TradeXYZ today also launched pre-IPO perpetual trading tied to Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, which is reportedly preparing for what could become the largest IPO in history next month at a valuation of up to $1.75 trillion. SpaceX recently merged with Musk’s AI startup xAI, which acquired social media platform X last year.Interest in pre-IPO perps could continue rising from here as several major private companies, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Discord, are expected to move closer toward public listings over time. Pre-IPO perps allow traders to gain exposure to these companies through synthetic derivatives rather than actual shares."There are over 1,700 unicorns representing more than $8 trillion in value that the average investor can't access," said Thomas Klocanas, managing partner at Strobe Ventures and formerly of BlockTower. "Global secondary volume hit $240 billion in 2025, up almost 50% year-over-year, and yet the market remains illiquid, expensive, and relationship-gated. Pre-IPO perps are a direct response to that structural gap."For companies within weeks of a public listing,...

View stock analysis, news, and events for Cerebras Systems Inc.