Earlier today, on August 2nd, Ventuals unveiled a new way for the public to trade startup valuations before they go public. The platform uses HyperliquidX infrastructure to offer perpetual markets for pre-IPO companies.
Anyone can buy or sell with up to 10x leverage and benefit from on-chain price oracles that feed in secondary sale data. The move aims to turn a multi-trillion-dollar private market into a tradable asset class for all investors.
Public Trading of Startups
Ventuals says this model brings insider-only startup deals onto public rails. Instead of waiting years for an IPO or relying on venture capital connections, retail investors can now take positions in growth-stage firms.
Traders choose to go long if they expect a company’s valuation to rise or go short when they think it will fall. All pricing and settlement happen on-chain, ensuring transparency and speed.
Mechanics of the Platform
Each market on Ventuals represents a single company’s total valuation. Traders can apply leverage up to 10x to amplify gains or losses.
Behind the scenes, a custom price oracle gathers data from secondary sales in private rounds and adjusts the market price in real time. By relying on HyperliquidX’s technology, Ventuals taps a proven Layer-1 protocol that handles high throughput and low fees.
What This Means for Investors?
By making private markets public, Ventuals could reshape how startup funding works. Retail and institutional players gain a new tool to express views on private valuations without huge capital outlays.
Early adopters can build positions that mirror venture capital returns, but with far greater liquidity. This may also pressure traditional private funds to offer more frequent redemptions or real-time price updates.
The Role of HIP-3
Ventuals credits Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 standard for enabling its launch. This protocol lets developers spin up their own perpetual markets quickly.
Beyond startup valuations, HIP-3 could fuel exotic new markets in sectors like real estate tokenisation, carbon credits, or niche commodities. Ventuals stands among the first to harness HIP-3 for private equity-style trading.
Hyperliquid Hits Record Open Interest
Meanwhile, Hyperliquid announced that its platform’s open interest has topped $14.7 billion, as of July 23rd. This milestone is the highest in its history and marks a turning point for decentralised finance.
A surge in both retail participation and institutional flows has driven this growth. More active users and deeper order books are creating a virtuous cycle of improved liquidity.
Growth Drivers and Market Depth
Institutional desks and algorithmic traders have joined Hyperliquid in large numbers. Their strategies range from hedging to arbitrage, and they require deep liquidity to operate efficiently.
Hyperliquid’s record open interest shows the protocol can handle heavy demand. At the same time, retail traders enjoy low fees and fast settlement times that rival centralised exchanges.
Expanding Use Cases
With the arrival of Ventuals, Hyperliquid’s ecosystem is branching into real-world assets. Startups and private equity valuations now join traditional crypto perps.
This diversification underscores Hyperliquid’s ambition to become the backbone for all perpetual market needs. As new markets go live, more tokenised assets can find price discovery on the same network.
Also Read: Hyperliquid Sees $1.5T in Annual Trading & Platform Revenue Topping $300M, HYPE Token To Break ATH?