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Crypto traders are assigning Anthropic an implied valuation of over 1 trillion dollars (866 billion euros) above the price of its last fundraising round, while public investors have yet to see its accounts. The company behind Claude has confidentially filed its initial public offering (IPO) paperwork and chosen Nasdaq for its market debut. All that remains is the publication of its S-1 document, the official registration statement that a US company submits to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In the meantime, Anthropic's only real-time price comes from a corner of the crypto market where pre-IPO speculation is in full swing, and for now, it is well above anything the company has already agreed upon with an investor.

The last recorded valuation was 965 billion dollars (836 billion euros), set when a 65 billion dollar (56 billion euro) Series H funding round closed at the end of May, led by Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks, and Sequoia. 3 billion euros) barely a year earlier, representing an almost sixteen-fold increase in approximately twelve months. Revenue has grown almost as quickly. Anthropic's annualized revenue run rate exceeded 65 billion dollars (56 billion euros) by the end of July, driven by enterprise adoption of Claude. 4 billion euros) in 2025, reflecting the cost of training cutting-edge models.

6 billion euros) on Amazon Web Services (AWS) technologies over the next decade. Given these figures, investors are already aiming significantly higher than the valuation of the last round. 73 trillion euros), with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley leading an operation expected to raise over 60 billion dollars (52 billion euros). 86 trillion euros) at the time of writing. 2 times the Series H valuation. Heng Yu Lee, a partner at market maker DWF Labs, active in these instruments, rejects the idea that leverage rather than conviction is fueling this premium.

"Whether positions are leveraged or not, everyone trading in the pre-IPO market represents real demand at the displayed price," he told Euronews, adding that "the premium incorporates publicly available information, such as expected revenue figures and anticipated demand for the stock." Related Anthropic IPO: five points to know before its Wall Street debut Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei calls on AI groups to slow down in the face of super-AI risks These contracts will also be the first instruments to react when the filing is submitted, trading 24 hours a day while stock markets are closed.

"When the S-1 is published, we generally see volumes jump and prices fluctuate sharply, as the market digests the information," Lee explained. However, the market remains modest compared to what it values. "Currently, the market is not very deep, with only 6 million dollars in 24-hour volume and 31 million dollars in open positions on Hyperliquid," Lee stated, adding that liquidity is expected to improve as the listing approaches, with investors likely to flock in. Lee also does not hide how much this figure needs to be put into perspective. "At this stage, I wouldn't rely too much on the absolute price level, as we don't yet have a public S-1," he said, while clarifying that "the direction in which prices move generally reflects quite accurately the change in sentiment towards the company as developments unfold."

Once Anthropic makes its filing public, 2026 will emerge as the year of AI IPOs. It all began with chip manufacturer Cerebras Systems, which designs wafer-scale processors presented as an alternative to Nvidia's. 76 billion euros) at 185 dollars per share, above its revised price range. The stock opened up 89% and ended its first session around 311 dollars, valuing the company at approximately 67 billion dollars (58 billion euros), compared to 23 billion dollars (20 billion euros) three months earlier. Investor appetite for a credible Nvidia competitor proved intense, even if enthusiasm quickly waned after a disappointing initial earnings report.

8 billion euros). 69 trillion euros). OpenAI was also expected to proceed with an IPO this year and had already filed confidentially, but has now completely backed out. The company boasts a private valuation of 852 billion dollars (738 billion euros), set during a 122 billion dollar (105 billion euro) round in March. CEO Sam Altman told Fortune magazine on Saturday that a listing this year would be "unwise," ruling out 2026 and refusing to commit to 2027. He explained that the company had "a lot to do" regarding safety and alignment and that private status facilitated this.

Altman's remarks came on the same day as the publication by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei of an essay titled We Must Pace the Frontier, in which he argues that AI companies should voluntarily slow down the pace at which they improve their most powerful models. Amodei proposes three steps: independent evaluators with employee-level access to cutting-edge systems, coordination on safety standards among labs in democratic countries, and international agreements on the most dangerous categories of use. Anthropic has already unilaterally committed to the first point, and support quickly arrived, with Sam Altman saying he shared the need to control the pace of advancement at the AI frontier and Elon Musk simply responding: "Dario is right."

But US President Donald Trump disagrees. In his first public reaction to the three CEOs, Trump, speaking in Ireland on Sunday, rejected this argument. "We are ahead of China in AI.