Gate launches Digital Pre-IPO Participation Mechanism: Pioneering a new path in the public market and leading the wave of RWA compliance implementation

For a long time, there has been a faint, almost invisible line of separation between the crypto industry and traditional finance. On one side are 24/7 continuous trading, self-custody, and permissionless innovation experiments; on the other side are strict regulatory frameworks, mature issuance mechanisms, and vast institutional networks. Though the two may appear parallel, they have never truly managed to converge.

Gate has officially launched a digital Pre-IPOs participation mechanism, fundamentally breaking through this barrier. This is not a simple iteration of product features, but a key milestone in the crypto industry’s move toward “mainstreaming”—it signals that blockchain technology is beginning to be systematically incorporated into the core processes of traditional capital markets, adopting the posture of a “technology upgrade.”

Expand IPO Participation Channels Through Compliant Digitalized Mechanisms

Over the past decade, the mainstream narrative in the crypto industry has been “disruption” and “substitution.” Bitcoin has been described as “digital gold,” Ethereum has been envisioned as “the world computer,” and DeFi has been viewed as an “alternative to traditional finance.” While this narrative has attracted early adopters, it has also, in an invisible way, intensified the tension between crypto and regulators, as well as traditional financial institutions.

The Pre-IPOs participation mechanism launched on Gate uses a “dual-track structure,” deeply integrating traditional IPO processes with on-chain distribution mechanisms. Core steps such as underwriting, roadshows, and allocations strictly follow the existing regulatory framework without change. Meanwhile, some shares are delivered digitally through compliant on-chain infrastructure. This design, without altering the established issuance processes, provides a compliant and secure participation channel for global crypto-native investors.

The significance of this mechanism innovation lies in the fact that it removes the “either/or” opposition between traditional finance and the crypto world, enabling them to operate as a complementary system. For regulators, it is an acceptable, auditable, and compatible innovation path; for traditional financial institutions, it is a low-friction upgrade route; for the crypto industry, it is a compliant gateway to the mainstream market. With this mechanism in place, issuers can reach a broader group of crypto-native investors while maintaining existing listing processes, and explore new sources of demand in a compliant environment.

Digital Assets Move Toward Compliant, Real-World Implementation

For a long time, “digital assets” in the crypto industry have often been confused with “synthetic assets” or “wrapped assets.” Although these products provide price exposure on-chain, what investors usually hold is not true ownership, but derivative instruments or certificates issued by intermediaries. More importantly, most of these products exist in regulatory gray areas: issuers may not have authorization from listed companies, and investors’ rights cannot be sufficiently protected.

The core of Gate’s Pre-IPOs participation mechanism is native digital equity under a compliant framework. Under this framework, digital shares represent “digitalized rights and interests in securities issued legally,” meaning a digital mapping of shares recorded in the blockchain system. These digital rights and interests are strictly managed through a regulated transfer agent structure, maintaining full compatibility with current securities regulations and capital market systems. This means:

• Investors hold actual equity, not derivative certificates, and enjoy complete voting rights, dividend rights, and liquidation rights
• Issuers retain full control; the digitization process is carried out with company authorization and stays synchronized with the official shareholder register
• Regulators have full visibility; on-chain records seamlessly connect with the compliant framework

Through supporting mechanisms such as identity verification, transfer control, and real-time visibility of shareholder records, Gate ensures that asset transfers maximize flexibility and transparency while meeting regulatory requirements.

Crypto Users Participate in Public Markets for the First Time as “Main Forces”

For ordinary users in the crypto industry, the biggest change brought by Gate’s Pre-IPOs mechanism is this: eligible users can now obtain a new channel to participate in public stock issuances through a crypto-native environment.

Previously, when crypto users wanted to participate in an IPO, they typically had to go through complex channels (such as registering with offshore securities firms or participating indirectly through derivative platforms). Not only was the process cumbersome, but users also often could not enjoy full shareholder rights.

Under Gate’s Pre-IPOs participation framework, eligible crypto users will have the opportunity to:

• Directly participate in the IPO subscription process, rather than buying shares in the secondary market after the stock is listed
• Hold true equity in self-custody wallets and enjoy voting and dividend rights equivalent to those of traditional shareholders
• Complete subscription and asset management operations in a compliant on-chain environment with a simple and efficient process
• Use stablecoins within the platform directly for subscription, with no complicated process or high capital barriers

Digital shares can be distributed to verified wallets and freely transferred in a compliant secondary market environment. Thanks to the substitutability between digital shares and their traditional underlying assets, investors can flexibly choose how to hold across different trading venues, breaking the limitations of a single market in the past.

IPO Market Pre-Booking Channel to Lock in Priority for Digital IPO Subscriptions

Currently, Gate has opened the Pre-IPOs pre-booking entry. After users pre-book, they will enjoy exclusive privileges such as a 100% priority subscription right and future opportunities for high-quality IPOs. Gate will advance the user participation process in stages according to the specific progress of the issuer’s actual IPO timeline. The specific assets to be issued and the schedule will be dynamically announced based on market conditions and regulatory compliance requirements.

The long-term value of this Pre-IPOs infrastructure built by Gate lies in:

• Providing issuers with a clear compliant path so they can more calmly move equity on-chain
• Offering investors a secure participation environment, where they enjoy on-chain efficiency while receiving legal protections at the level of traditional finance
• Providing regulators with an auditable technical framework that supports innovation without sacrificing transparency

As this infrastructure gradually matures, the shape of future capital markets may undergo fundamental changes: IPOs will no longer be a single-event occurrence in a single market, but a parallel process of simultaneous issuance across multiple markets; equity trading will no longer be T+2 overnight settlement, but near real-time continuous flows; the shareholder register will no longer be a static table updated quarterly, but a continuously synchronized dynamic ledger.

Conclusion

Gate’s launch of the Pre-IPOs participation mechanism is a major real-world practice of introducing on-chain distribution mechanisms within the existing regulatory framework. By deeply integrating compliant issuance mechanisms with blockchain distribution capabilities, Gate is committed to improving market access levels, optimizing market efficiency, and driving the continuous evolution of public market participation models.

The pre-booking entry is now open. Gate is leading the industry trend of accelerating the integration of digital asset infrastructure into traditional finance systems. In the future, Gate will continue to explore compliant on-chain distribution models, expand the boundaries of participation in capital markets, and support the long-term development of digital finance infrastructure.