The Pre-IPO Market Is Broken: Tokenization and Perps Won’t Fix it

The pre-IPO market has always been stacked against retail investors. 

Six-figure minimums, inflated valuations, year-long lockups, hefty fees, and opaque pricing make it one of the most inaccessible corners of finance. Now, with Circle, Figma, and Bullish recently going public, crypto builders are racing to "democratize" private markets through tokenization and perpetual futures. But there's a problem: they're building derivatives on top of a market that barely functions.

Without a liquid, real-time spot market, these solutions won't just fall short, they'll eviscerate retail investors in the process. The allure is obvious: turn illiquid shares into tradeable tokens, use the DEX as an oracle for perps, and suddenly retail has access.