Crypto exchange MNX takes on OKX, BitGet offering pre-IPO futures for AI giants

A new cryptocurrency exchange will allow investors to speculate on the valuations of private artificial intelligence (AI) giants like OpenAI and Anthropic when they go public.

MNX, which was developed by Manifold Markets, went live on Tuesday offering futures contracts tied to OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek and Moonshot. The platform, built on MegaETH blockchain, raised $6.4 million from investors led by Village Global in June.

Larger crypto exchanges, including OKX and Bitget, already offer contracts that let traders bet on the value of private AI companies without owning their shares.

Unlike Bitget’s perpetual futures which never expire, MNX offers contracts with expiration dates at the end of 2027 and incur no recurring funding fees. OKX also offers contracts with no expiration dates, but uses a different funding mechanism.

The investment is a bet that financial markets have yet to catch up with the enormous amounts of money flowing into artificial intelligence, according to Village Global.

"AI is driving one of the largest investment cycles in history, despite the financial infrastructure around it remaining quite underdeveloped," said Max Killberg of Village Global. He said the firm sees an opportunity to develop financial markets around AI, rather than simply back another prediction market.

Manifold Markets co-founder Stephen Gruggett told CoinDesk that MNX’s approach is better suited to private companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic, whose shares trade infrequently and are difficult to price.

"OpenAI, Anthropic secondaries are illiquid and hard to price," he said. "A perp based on an illiquid, stale price is worse than meaningless: it doesn't behave the way investors expect; it's easy to manipulate; and it may have a very high and unpredictable funding rate."

Traders can also use up to three times their available funds, increasing both potential profits and losses.

Prices are determined by trading activity on MNX rather than an external price feed. If a company remains private when its contract expires, the exchange uses publicly available valuations from funding rounds, investment funds or secondary markets. As a last resort, MNX can determine the settlement price itself, subject to a published review princess.

That means traders could end up settling their bets at a price different from what investors might actually pay for shares in a private transaction.