Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has launched pre-IPO perpetual contracts tied to Chinese robotics firm Unitree and artificial intelligence startup Moonshot AI, extending its push into private-market trading.

The contracts are denominated and settled in USDT, giving traders price exposure to the two companies without ownership of the underlying shares. Perpetual contracts are derivatives that track an asset's price and, unlike traditional futures, have no fixed expiry date. Bybit said its TradFi perpetuals lineup has grown to more than 200 products since launching in April, spanning equities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), commodities, indices and pre-IPO companies.

Unitree, best known for its quadruped robot dogs and humanoid robots, received approval from China's securities regulator in July for an initial public offering on Shanghai's STAR Market, the Shanghai Stock Exchange's science and technology innovation board. The new perpetual allows traders to gain exposure to the robotics company before its shares begin trading publicly. Moonshot AI is the Beijing-based startup behind the Kimi AI assistant. Crypto trading is banned in mainland China, leaving crypto-denominated products tied to these companies accessible to traders outside the mainland.

The launch follows a broader move by crypto exchanges into private-market products. Binance, Coinbase, Kraken and other platforms rolled out SpaceX-linked contracts ahead of the company's June listing, offering pre-IPO exposure through crypto-native derivatives. Such exposure has historically been confined to venture capital firms and other institutional investors, and crypto-listed derivatives now give retail traders a way to trade on private-company valuations before a listing, without conferring any ownership stake.

The private-market push comes as onchain equities gain traction and the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) extends from instruments like Treasuries and funds into stocks. Data from RWA.xyz shows tokenized stocks have reached $2.38 billion in distributed value and 1.31 million holders, with the holder count up 123.62% over the past 30 days.

Source: Cointelegraph