MNX Launches 3x Futures on OpenAI and Anthropic Valuations
gmu gmu, MegaETH. On Tuesday 13 October 2026, a startup valued at $40 million opened a market where traders bet on what four private AI labs will be worth, without owning a single share.
Some companies are too big to buy and too private to price. You can't walk into a shop and pick up a slice of OpenAI or Anthropic, so a new exchange built a table where you wager on what they will be worth instead. On Tuesday 13 October 2026, MNX went live with futures contracts on OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek and Moonshot.
The $40 million number is the one worth a beat of its own. That is what MNX itself was valued at in June 2026, when it raised $6.4 million in a pre-seed round led by Village Global. A young startup is now taking positions on the future size of some of the best known private companies on earth. GLUWULU.
The rules of the table are unusual. Every contract expires at 6:59:59 pm New York time on 31 December 2027. There are no recurring funding fees, and traders can lever up to three times, with a third of the position posted upfront as margin. If a lab lists on the stock market, the contract settles on its post-IPO market cap. If it stays private, the exchange falls back on qualifying funding rounds, fund valuations or secondary trades, and as a last resort MNX itself can set the price. CoinDesk notes that the settlement price may differ from what anyone would really pay for private shares. The platform does not serve U.S. customers for now.
The pitch is a jab at the neighbours. OKX and Bitget already offer contracts on private AI companies, and Bitget's never expire. Co-founder Stephen Grugett told CoinDesk that a contract pegged to a stale, illiquid price is worse than meaningless, which is why MNX uses dated futures and lets its own trading set the price. Honestlu, it is a fair argument. It is also an argument that only gets tested when the clock runs out.
Village Global has framed its backing as a bet that financial markets have not caught up with the money pouring into AI. A dated contract is a clean way to disagree with someone: you pick a side, you pick a date, and December 2027 judges you both. Would youluwu rather sit at a table that ends on a fixed day, or one that never closes and charges rent every hour?
Somewhere in this setup, the Spirit has pulled up a stool, because the chips on this felt are valuations. The wheel has an end date, the ball is in the air, and the odds are written in a rulebook, not on a ticker. GASSSSITTTT.
Bet on a private AI lab's value without owning a share?
No right answer. Just your gut, and the Spirit watching.
