Anthropic has just issued a strong warning to investors after discovering a series of secondary platforms and private investment companies advertising access to the company's shares without permission.
In an update on the official support page, Anthropic names multiple platforms that allegedly do not have the authority to offer trading in the company's shares, including Open Doors Partners, Unicorns Exchange, Pachamama Capital, Lionheart Ventures, Hiive, Forge Global, Sydecar and Upmarket.
According to Anthropic, all transactions of buying and selling or transferring shares of the company through these units are considered invalid and will not be recorded in the company's shareholder management system.
This move takes place in the context that stocks of AI companies are becoming targets of hunting in the private investment market. Anthropic is currently considered one of the most valuable AI startups in the world and is rumored to be preparing to raise new capital with a valuation of up to 900 billion USD.
The attraction of Anthropic makes many investment platforms seek to open "sidedoors" to help individual investors access stocks before IPO.
These transactions often take place on the secondary market, where existing shareholders sell shares or through complex financial instruments such as SPV (special-purpose companies), encrypted securities or derivative contracts.
However, Anthropic emphasized that both common shares and preferential shares of the company are subject to strict restrictive transfer terms. Any transaction not approved by the board of directors will be considered invalid.
In a response to the media, the company operating the private equity trading platform in the US - Forge Global - said that being put on the warning list is a "mistake" and affirmed that the company does not support the trading of private enterprise shares without clear approval from that enterprise itself.
Meanwhile, Sydecar Financial Technology Company claims that they only play the role of managing investment infrastructure and do not directly buy or offer securities transactions from private companies.
Representatives of the private equity trading platform HIIVE also said that the company invests heavily in the legal system and compliance control to ensure that all share transactions are approved by the issuer.
In addition to traditional investment platforms, some cryptocurrency companies are also participating in the race to access AI stocks.
Cryptocurrency exchange OKX once launched an investment product related to AI stocks in the form of futures contracts before the IPO. However, these products often do not provide actual share ownership but only simulate the company's value in the secondary market.
Anthropic also warns about the risk of fraud in this field, especially when some units may make false statements about share ownership.
This company affirms that it does not allow SPVs to buy Anthropic shares and all investment proposals in the company's funding rounds through SPV are prohibited.
