OpenAI and Anthropic simultaneously cleaned up their equity tables on the eve of their IPO, announcing that all unapproved transfers of equity are invalid, including SPV shares, tokenized interests, and forward contracts. Crypto lawyers pointed out that invalid transactions are legally "as if they never happened," and sellers can retain shares and funds.

This event's biggest impact on the crypto market is the complete undermining of the legal foundation for on-chain pre-IPO trading. Over the past two years, multiple platforms used tokenized shares or SPV structures to allow retail investors to indirectly hold stakes in AI giants like OpenAI and Anthropic, with valuations soaring to billions of dollars. Now, both companies directly declare these transactions invalid, meaning a large portion of tokenized interests could become worthless.
A deeper issue is that the crypto market's narrative of "tokenizing everything" is overly optimistic. The legality of tokenized securities depends on the underlying legal framework, not smart contracts. When issuers refuse to recognize on-chain interests, the so-called "liquidity" is just an illusion.
This is not an isolated incident. Several projects have previously faced disputes when issuers denied tokenized equity. But the scale of OpenAI and Anthropic (combined valuation close to $2 trillion) and the timing of their IPO make this crackdown significant—it sends a clear signal to the market: Wall Street's compliance channels are not yet ready for on-chain pre-IPO.
The risk is that many investors holding such tokenized interests may face total loss of their investments. More broadly, the narrative of RWA (Real-World Asset) tokenization, especially the "equity tokenization" branch, will face a trust crisis. If even the world's most prominent AI companies refuse to recognize on-chain interests, how likely are other companies to follow suit?
Of course, some argue that this will instead promote more compliant tokenization paths, such as offerings registered with the SEC or regulated alternative trading systems. But in the short term, the valuation bubble for on-chain pre-IPO assets is being burst.
For ordinary investors, the warning is: not all assets on the chain have legal certainty. Until Wall Street channels are truly open, the "ownership" of tokenized interests may be nothing more than a paper illusion.
$spv #ai