The Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange, Bybit, has expanded its push into private-market trading by introducing pre-IPO perpetual contracts for Unitree, a Chinese robotics firm, and Moonshot AI, an artificial intelligence startup.

These newly launched contracts are denominated and settled in USDT. They are designed to give traders exposure to the price movements of the companies without conferring ownership of the underlying shares.

This development contributes to the growth of Bybit's TradFi perpetuals lineup, which the company stated has surpassed 200 products since its inception in April. The collection spans a diverse range of asset classes, including equities, ETFs, commodities, indices, and other pre-IPO companies.

For Unitree specifically, the perpetual contract provides traders with exposure to the robotics company before its shares are publicly available. The firm received approval from China’s securities regulator in July for an initial public offering on the STAR Market in Shanghai.

Bybit's latest move aligns with a broader industry trend where cryptocurrency exchanges are venturing into private-market products. For instance, other major exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken rolled out contracts linked to SpaceX ahead of that company's June listing. Those offerings similarly provided pre-IPO exposure through crypto-native derivatives.

This push into private markets coincides with a period of growing traction for onchain equities. According to data from RWA.xyz, tokenized stocks have reached a distributed value of $2.38 billion and are held by 1.31 million unique holders. The number of these holders has increased by a significant 123.62% over the past 30 days.

Data on tokenized stocks provided by RWA.xyz.