Bybit Is Letting You Trade Pre-IPO Stocks Like Unitree and Moonshot AI — Here's What That Means for Crypto

WHY IT MATTERS

Imagine you wanted to invest in a hot tech startup before it goes public on the stock market — normally, only wealthy investors and venture capital firms get that opportunity. Bybit is essentially creating a way for everyday crypto traders to bet on whether these private companies will be worth more or less when they eventually IPO. They do this through something called 'perpetual contracts,' which are like ongoing bets on a price that never expire. It's a sign that crypto exchanges are trying to become one-stop shops for all kinds of financial speculation, not just Bitcoin and altcoins. But because these companies aren't publicly traded yet, there's extra risk — it's harder to know what they're truly worth.