Crypto traders are pricing Jio Platforms at approximately $110 billion through a pre-IPO derivative listed on Bitget, where the contract traded near $12 on Thursday. That price represents a premium of roughly 4% over the company’s maximum IPO price as subscriptions opened for India’s biggest-ever public offering.
The JIOUSDT perpetual contract was changing hands around $12, while Jio Platforms set its upper share-price limit at 1,119 rupees ($11.79). With approximately 9.21 billion shares expected to be outstanding after the offering, the company’s implied valuation at the top of the IPO range is about 10.3 trillion rupees, equivalent to $106 billion.
Jio Platforms is the telecommunications and digital business of Reliance Industries, one of India’s largest conglomerates. Since beginning operations in 2016, its network has expanded to become the country’s largest mobile operator by subscriber base.
The company is seeking to raise around 302 billion rupees through the IPO. If completed as planned, the offering would surpass Hyundai Motor India’s 279 billion-rupee listing in 2024 to become the largest IPO in Indian history.
Jio’s Pre-IPO Contract Draws Millions in Trading
Bitget introduced the Jio-linked contract on Oct. 14. Since its debut, the price has moved between $11.48 and $12.24. Total trading volume has reached approximately 369,000 JIO, worth about $4.4 million, providing an early indication of market expectations before the company’s shares list on a stock exchange.
Other companies have also attracted speculative trading on crypto platforms before their anticipated public listings. Perpetual contracts tied to SpaceX (SPCX) and Cerebras (CBRS), for example, traded on TradeXYZ, which operates on the Hyperliquid network.
Such contracts give traders a way to speculate on the potential value of major companies before traditional stock-market trading begins. However, their implied valuations can diverge from official IPO figures.
SpaceX provides one example. Synthetic perpetual futures linked to the company traded between $162 and $165 on Hyperliquid and Binance, suggesting a valuation of around $2.2 trillion. Its official IPO valuation was nearly 20% lower, at $1.8 trillion.
How Pre-IPO Contracts Work
Pre-IPO perpetual futures allow market participants to bet on price movements without an expiration date, even when the underlying company has not yet listed its shares. These contracts do not confer stock ownership, voting privileges or dividend payments.
Traders use USDT, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, as collateral to take leveraged positions. Bitget says its contract pricing is based on publicly available data, including the announced IPO price range and the final offering price.
The exchange plans to convert the Jio contract into a standard perpetual futures product after the shares begin trading. Until then, uncertainty surrounding the IPO creates additional risk: a delayed listing, a change in pricing or a cancellation could lead to sharp movements in the contract’s value.
