Why are Pre-IPOs in 2026 so Popular? Analyzing the New Investment Opportunities Amidst the $3.6 Trillion IPO Wave

2026 is becoming the biggest IPO year in the history of the global capital markets. SpaceX plans to list on NASDAQ on June 12th, with a target valuation of $1.75 trillion and raising about $75 billion, potentially surpassing Saudi Aramco to become the largest IPO in human history. Following closely are OpenAI (valuation of $852 billion) and Anthropic (latest valuation around $900 billion), with the combined valuation of the three giants exceeding $3 trillion.

Against this backdrop, the Pre-IPO track is heating up at an unprecedented speed—2026 is expected to unlock over $3.6 trillion in value, and the maturity of crypto asset infrastructure is turning this originally closed institutional game into an opportunity for ordinary investors.



## Why 2026 is Becoming the “Super Year for IPOs”

Three core catalysts are triggering simultaneously: first is the change in the interest rate environment—The Federal Reserve officially entered a rate-cutting cycle in 2025, risk assets are being revalued, and the capital that was stuck in high-priced rounds in 2022 and 2023 finally has a window to “go out.” Second is regulatory easing—The Trump administration in 2025 loosened regulations on crypto and fintech overall, giving companies like Kraken, Circle, and others a viable path to go public. Third is internal liquidity pressure—many unicorns have been private for over ten years, with early employees’ equity incentives turning into “paper fatigue,” pushing companies toward the public markets. These three triggers culminated in 2026, with the IPO gates fully opening for the first time.

An unprecedented lineup of targets: this IPO wave is led by SpaceX. According to Reuters, SpaceX is scheduled to go public on June 12th, with a valuation of $1.75 trillion. OpenAI and Anthropic are targeting the fourth quarter and October respectively, with fundraising goals each reaching $60 billion. Additionally, crypto exchange Kraken has secretly filed for an IPO with a valuation of $20 billion; Grayscale has also submitted an S-1 to the SEC. This historic feast of IPOs, composed of commercial space, generative AI, and crypto finance, is driven by the fundamental force behind the hot Pre-IPO track.

## From “Institutional Privilege” to “Everyone Can Invest”: How Tokenization is Transforming Pre-IPs

Traditional Pre-IPO investments have extremely high barriers. The top 100 unicorns worldwide are valued at about $2.94 trillion, but ordinary investors have almost no chance to share in that. According to PwC data, traditional Pre-IPO investments require qualified investor status, with minimum thresholds often in the millions of dollars, and lock-up periods usually lasting several years. This “high wall” keeps most investors out of the most valuable growth phases.

Tokenization is tearing down this wall. In April 2026, Gate officially launched a digital Pre-IPO participation mechanism, opening the previously exclusive early investment channel to over 53 million users worldwide. Its core mechanism is to tokenize traditional Pre-IPO rights using blockchain technology, allowing users to participate in subscription and trading simply by holding stablecoins like USDT, without requiring qualified investor certification. The investment threshold drops from millions of dollars to retail-level.

Meanwhile, tokenized assets also unlock unprecedented liquidity. Traditional Pre-IPO investments often require locking funds for years, but Gate’s tokenized Pre-IPO assets can be freely traded 24/7 in an exclusive pre-market trading platform, with prices determined entirely by market supply and demand. This mechanism allows investors to exit before the company’s official listing, greatly improving capital turnover efficiency.

## Market Validation: Pre-IPO Investments Have Completed a “Full Process Closed-Loop”

The Pre-IPO track is not just a story; real cases have completed the full cycle from subscription to listing. On March 2, 2026, MSX’s first Pre-IPO project Cerebras (CBRS) opened for subscription at $100.35. After the AI chip manufacturer listed on NASDAQ, based on the first-day high, participating users’ overall returns once exceeded 300%.

On May 16, 2026, MSX’s second Pre-IPO phase officially opened for subscription, targeting Anthropic and Polymarket—Anthropic’s subscription price was $855, corresponding to a valuation of $950 billion; Polymarket’s subscription price was $152, corresponding to a valuation of $15 billion. Both new targets experienced valuation jumps of tenfold or more over the past year, representing the hottest directions in AI productivity and prediction markets.

## Opportunities and Challenges in the Future—What Risks Should Investors Watch?

Although the Pre-IPO track is in a breakout period, investors still need to remain rational. First, compared to the latest private market valuations, current Pre-IPO assets generally carry a 20%–40% trading premium, and most trading platforms lack short-selling hedging mechanisms. Second, targets like OpenAI and Anthropic have explicitly warned investors not to trade products related to securities that the companies have not authorized, a regulatory gray area that requires close attention. Third, according to the report “2026 Digital Asset Regulatory Status” published by CertiK, major jurisdictions have entered a “strong compliance era,” with enforcement risks shifting focus.

For investors seeking compliance and transparency, choosing issuers and trading platforms with proper licenses is crucial. Gate has always adhered to compliant operations, providing users with a regulated framework-protected Pre-IPO investment gateway.

## Summary

The hotness of the 2026 Pre-IPO track is no accident but the result of the resonance of three forces: the “trillion-dollar IPO wave” led by SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic provides underlying assets; the tokenization technology of crypto exchanges removes traditional investment barriers, allowing ordinary investors to participate in early-stage layouts of top unicorns; successful full-cycle validation by projects like Cerebras proves the practical feasibility of Pre-IPO investments.

As of May 19, 2026, SpaceX’s IPO is less than a month away, and the listing windows for OpenAI and Anthropic are also gradually approaching. The over $3 trillion value release has just begun. Gate will continue to offer compliant, transparent, low-threshold Pre-IPO products, enabling users worldwide to stand on the shoulders of Web3 infrastructure and grow together with top tech unicorns.