Race for Anthropic IPO Tickets: From Selling Bay Area Homes for Shares to Bitget’s $100 Allotments

Author: Zen, PANews

In April this year, an unusually unusual real estate transaction took place in the San Francisco Bay Area.

An investment banker named Storm Duncan planned to sell his estate, valued at approximately $8 million. Unlike typical homeowners, he wanted the buyer to pay with shares of artificial intelligence company Anthropic rather than cash. To facilitate the deal, he was even willing to allow the buyer to retain 20% of the upside gains on the exchanged shares during the lock-up period.

When asked why he chose this unconventional sales method, Duncan's explanation was simple: too many houses, too few AI assets. Conversely, some early employees of Anthropic might have the opposite problem: holding substantial company equity but lacking enough cash to purchase real estate.

The mansion sold by Storm Duncan

A few weeks later, Wired magazine found that more similar property listings had appeared across the San Francisco Bay Area.

Among them, a tech public relations firm owner selling a $2.5 million residence offered a special incentive: if the buyer paid with Anthropic stock, they would only need to provide $2 million worth of equity, effectively granting a 20% discount.

It remains unknown whether these transactions will ultimately be completed, but they sufficiently illustrate one point: Anthropic's equity is becoming one of the most sought-after yet hardest-to-acquire assets in Silicon Valley.

This frenzy surrounding Anthropic's equity has finally presented an opportunity for the public market. On October 26, Anthropic officially filed its IPO prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), planning to list on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT, with market expectations placing its valuation at $1.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion upon going public.

From Silicon Valley billionaires willing to swap mansions for shares to Wall Street institutions preparing to invest billions, Anthropic's IPO has long been one of the most watched events in global capital markets. There is a general consensus that demand for shares far outstrips supply; what the market truly cares about now is how to secure allocation tickets in tight offerings and how to price this rapidly growing AI company.

Five Years to Join the Trillion-Dollar Club: The Valuation Logic Behind Anthropic

Founded in 2021 by Dario Amodei and his sister Daniela Amodei along with a group of former OpenAI employees, Anthropic emerged when ChatGPT had not yet been released and the commercial market for generative AI was far smaller than it is today.

Five years later, the company stands at the center of the global AI industry. According to its latest prospectus, revenue alone in Q3 2026 amounted to 3.7 times its full-year 2025 total. Furthermore, Reuters reported that Anthropic forecasts 2028 revenues between $190 billion and $200 billion. Its astonishing commercialization speed and growth prospects make it one of Wall Street's most closely watched IPO candidates. While its expected post-market valuation briefly touched around $2 trillion, even after some investors recently scaled back their estimates, market discussions still place the figure between $1.5 trillion and $1.75 trillion.

Such a massive valuation is supported by rapidly growing revenue and enterprise client demand, while also reflecting the capital markets' high expectations for Anthropic's future growth potential.

As the IPO approaches, besides assessing whether the valuation is reasonable, investors face another more practical question: even if bullish on Anthropic, how many actually stand a chance of getting shares at the offering price?

After all, for a highly anticipated global IPO like Anthropic, allocation at the offering price will be exceptionally scarce.

From SpaceX to Anthropic: How Are Tickets for Hot IPOs Distributed?

When SpaceX went public this June, the market already demonstrated the immense appeal of listing for top-tier hot tech IPOs.

On June 11, SpaceX officially set an offering price of $135 per share. The following day, it listed on Nasdaq, closing at $160.95, up 19.2% from the offering price. The stock continued its upward momentum, hitting an intraday high of $225.64 on June 16, representing roughly a 67% increase from the offering price, before settling at $201.80, still up 49.5%.

For investors who obtained shares at the $135 offering price, this translates to substantial paper gains. However, not every investor bullish on SpaceX had the opportunity to buy at the offering price, which perfectly illustrates how tightly allocated hot IPOs typically are.

Traditional U.S. stock IPO allocations are primarily handled through underwriters, with institutional clients usually possessing more mature distribution channels and resources. For highly demanded projects, even if brokerages allow retail customers to subscribe, limited allocable shares may prevent them from receiving their full requested amount.

By the time the stock officially enters the secondary market, investors often face entirely different pricing. This further highlights the scarce value of securing primary allocations at the offering price.

This market demand has also created development opportunities for new subscription platforms.

In April this year, crypto asset exchange Bitget launched IPO Prime, attempting to provide users with a channel to participate in pre-IPO and IPO stage investments for popular tech companies through stablecoin subscriptions and tokenized financial products.

Historical Subscription Data for IPO Prime Projects (Source: Bitget Official Website)

According to historical records disclosed on Bitget's official website, its SpaceX-related Pre-IPO project attracted a cumulative subscription of $177 million, with 14,435 participants. Compared to an issuance size of $61.1 million, the subscription multiple reached approximately 2.9x. The OpenAI-related project attracted around $120 million in subscriptions from 5,448 participants, yielding a subscription multiple of roughly 5.7x against a $21.08 million issuance size.

Both products also achieved considerable gains in the secondary market: the SpaceX-related token preSPAX (later renamed preSPCX) rose from a $650 subscription price to $948, peaking at a 45.8% increase; the OpenAI-related token preOPAI climbed from $725 to $1,079, peaking at a 48.8% increase.

It should be noted that the previous SpaceX and OpenAI projects utilized Pre-IPO tokens linked to the respective companies' post-listing stock prices. Investors received yield certificates provided by the issuing institutions, rather than actual SpaceX or OpenAI shares.

For Anthropic's current IPO, Bitget extends the subscription mechanism into the formal equity issuance phase: allocated assets will be delivered as rANT, with each unit backed 1:1 by actual Anthropic stock. Corporate actions will also be simultaneously reflected in the tokenized assets, marking a key distinction from earlier Pre-IPO products.

Starting at $100, Anthropic IPO Prime Opens Dual-Round Subscriptions

According to Bitget's announcement, the Anthropic IPO Prime is divided into VIP and Public rounds, opening for subscription on November 5 and November 10 at 16:00 Beijing Time, respectively. Both rounds support participation via USDT or USDGO, with a minimum investment of $100. The initiative aims to lower the threshold for ordinary people to participate in top-tier tech IPOs, helping them escape the common "bust-out" dilemma seen in traditional IPO subscriptions.

The Public round is open to all qualified users, with a maximum individual investment of $25,000; the VIP round raises the maximum investment limit to $3 million. Notably, VIP status is not restricted to existing members; users who upgrade and meet qualification requirements before the VIP round closes at 16:00 on November 9 will also have the opportunity to participate in priority VIP subscriptions with higher allocation limits.

Unlike participating in IPOs through standard securities accounts, investors can submit subscription requests using their existing crypto asset accounts. The platform connects to equity allocation channels via partner institutions through these accounts, streamlining the cumbersome processes of cross-market account opening and fund transfers.

According to disclosures from Bitget, its partner channels have historically achieved allocation rates between 40% and 80%. However, this figure merely serves as a reference for the actual allocation ratio for Anthropic's IPO this time; final quotas will still depend on the results of the underwriting channels and will be distributed according to the investment proportions of users in each round.

Regarding asset delivery, the allocated assets for this offering will be issued in the form of rANT tokens. As mentioned earlier, each rANT is backed 1:1 by actual Anthropic stock, and corporate actions will be simultaneously reflected in the tokenized assets. However, it is important to note that there remains a legal distinction between rANT and Anthropic stock held directly in an investor's registered name; holders will not concurrently acquire shareholder status or voting rights.

Additionally, product subscription fees are a key factor affecting actual returns. The public round carries an underwriting service fee of 5% on the actually allocated amount, while the VIP round charges 12%. Delivery timelines also differ between the two rounds: the public round is expected to be delivered before market open on the listing day, whereas the VIP round is anticipated to arrive 3 to 5 business days post-listing.

In conjunction with this campaign, Bitget has also established a $100,000 Anthropic stock prize pool for new users. Anyone meeting the registration, deposit, subscription, and fund retention requirements is eligible to participate, further lowering the barrier for newcomers to test the waters.

From the pre-listing related tokens of SpaceX and OpenAI to the real-stock-backed IPO subscription for Anthropic, Bitget IPO Prime is attempting to connect traditional capital market allocation resources with crypto accounts, giving more people the opportunity to participate in hot IPOs that were previously difficult to access.

But when it comes to actual returns, especially for hot IPOs, securing allocation eligibility is just one part of the investment journey. Final returns ultimately still depend on the offering price, allocation ratio, and the stock's performance post-listing.

Whether it's users who secured allocations or those San Francisco Bay Area investors willing to trade mansions for shares, they are fundamentally betting on Anthropic's value continuing to grow steadily over the coming years.

Now, with the IPO approaching, the equity of this AI company is about to enter a more transparent and highly liquid capital market. Against a backdrop of strong demand and scarce shares, the discussion and competition surrounding its trillion-dollar valuation will enter a new phase.