“Artificial intelligence is fueling one of the largest investment cycles in history, yet the financial infrastructure supporting it remains significantly underdeveloped,” said Max Killberg of Village Global. He noted that the firm identifies an opportunity to build structured financial markets around the AI sector, rather than merely backing another prediction platform.
Stephen Gruggett, co-founder of Manifold Markets, told CoinDesk that MNX’s model is particularly well-suited for private entities such as OpenAI and Anthropic, where shares trade infrequently and present valuation challenges.
“Secondary markets for OpenAI and Anthropic are illiquid and difficult to price,” Gruggett explained. “A perpetual contract tethered to an illiquid, stale price is worse than meaningless; it fails to behave as investors expect, is susceptible to manipulation, and can carry highly volatile, unpredictable funding rates.”
The platform offers traders leverage of up to three times their available capital, amplifying both potential gains and losses.
Pricing is derived from trading activity on MNX rather than external feeds. Should a company remain private at contract expiration, the exchange settles using publicly available valuations from funding rounds, investment funds, or secondary markets. As a final recourse, MNX may determine the settlement price itself, subject to a published review process.
Consequently, traders may settle positions at prices that diverge from the valuations observed in actual private transactions.