Pre-IPO

Pre-IPO tokens are digital assets designed to provide synthetic or tokenized exposure to the anticipated market value of companies that have not yet completed an initial public offering (IPO). These tokens are typically issued by third-party platforms or created through on-chain markets and do not represent actual equity ownership, voting rights, or direct claims on the underlying company's assets. This category covers tokens traded on both centralized and decentralized venues, including structured products issued by regulated tokenization platforms as well as permissionless speculative instruments on DeFi protocols. Pre-IPO tokens are distinct from security tokens and tokenized equities, which represent legally recognized ownership stakes in an entity, whereas pre-IPO tokens generally function as derivative-like instruments reflecting market sentiment around a company's future public valuation.