Why does TradFi hold the pricing power? Looking at the new rules of capital markets through the Anthropic IPO

If the most important theme in global capital markets over the past two years was AI, then one of the most closely watched events in 2026 might be AI companies beginning to converge on the capital market. Recently, Anthropic has been widely regarded by the market as one of the most likely AI unicorns to go public in the future, and OpenAI's potential future capital market path has also been frequently discussed. As the global IPO market revives, capital is reassessing the value of growth companies, and TradFi still controls the most important capital entry points and valuation systems.

Many people focus on how much wealth these companies can create after listing, but the real question for the capital market is something else: how much are these companies actually worth? For a company like Anthropic, an IPO means not just fundraising, but also undergoing its first public pricing by the global market. When a company moves from the private market to the public market, its value is no longer determined by a handful of investment institutions, but is jointly assessed and validated by global investors.

This is why behind every mega-IPO, there is often not just a company growth story, but a reaffirmation of market pricing power. From the Internet era to the mobile Internet era, and now to the AI era, every round of technological revolution ultimately requires the capital market to complete value discovery. And the entity responsible for this process has always been the mature financial system established by TradFi.

TradFi's Core Capability: Enabling Assets to Achieve Market Pricing

Many people simplistically understand TradFi as banks, brokerages, or the stock market. But in reality, the core capability of TradFi is not financing, but pricing. Financing solves the problem of a company obtaining capital, while pricing determines how the market views a company's long-term value.

An AI company can have a valuation of hundreds of billions of dollars in the primary market, but this price essentially still stems from the competition among a limited number of investment institutions. Only after entering the public market does a company's value truly undergo scrutiny by global capital. Pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance funds, mutual funds, and tens of millions of individual investors collectively form the market price discovery mechanism, allowing asset prices to continuously form new consensus through ongoing trading.

This capability is crucial for the entire economic system. Because the price set by the capital market not only affects a company's financing ability but also influences the future flow of resources within the entire industry. When NVIDIA became one of the highest-valued tech companies globally, the market began to reassess the value of the entire AI industry chain. When Tesla received a valuation far exceeding traditional automakers, the new energy industry also gained more capital support. In other words, the public market provides not just a numerical valuation, but determines which industries receive more resources and which technologies get more development opportunities. This is the fundamental reason why TradFi has long held the pricing power in mainstream capital markets.

Why More and More Innovative Assets Are Choosing to Embrace TradFi

In recent years, both within the tech industry and the crypto industry, there has been a viewpoint that innovative companies don't necessarily need to rely on traditional financial markets. Especially during the rapid development phase of Web3 and digital assets, many believed that new financing models could bypass the traditional capital system and establish a new ecosystem independent of Wall Street.

However, the actual development trend has been quite the opposite. As the market matures, more and more innovative companies are actively embracing TradFi. The reason is not complicated: the capital market provides not only funds but also the world's most mature value amplification mechanism. After completing an IPO, a company gains not just financing capabilities, but also broader investor coverage, higher brand influence, a more transparent information disclosure system, and stronger liquidity support.

For large institutions, whether they can invest in a particular asset often depends on the regulatory framework, liquidity levels, and risk management requirements. The public market precisely meets these conditions, making it the most important allocation venue for global long-term capital. Companies like Anthropic and Databricks are actively exploring capital market opportunities, while SpaceX has long been considered a potential listing target. What they are truly competing for is not just financing opportunities, but the qualification to enter the global capital allocation system, and the long-term pricing power that comes with it.

Crypto is Absorbing TradFi's Valuation Methods

This change is also happening within the Crypto market. In the past, the crypto industry relied more on narrative-driven growth. A new track, a new public chain, or even a popular Meme could gain massive market attention in a short period. The core focus of the market was the story, not the value itself.

However, as the industry gradually matures, new changes are emerging in the market. More and more investors are no longer focusing solely on concepts and narratives, but are starting to look at metrics like real user numbers, protocol revenue, business models, and cash flow growth. Previously widely discussed metrics like TVL, token issuance, and ecosystem incentives are being supplemented by indicators such as revenue generation capability, product competitiveness, and user retention rates. This shift essentially means Crypto is moving closer to TradFi's value assessment logic.

The advent of the BTC ETF has further accelerated this process. Since Bitcoin officially entered the traditional financial system, more and more institutions have begun to analyze BTC using methods applied to stocks, gold, and macro assets. The market's focus is shifting from on-chain narratives to dollar liquidity, Fed policy, risk appetite, and global asset allocation needs. Bitcoin is increasingly resembling a global macro asset, rather than just a trading instrument within the crypto market.

At the same time, the development of stablecoins has further strengthened this trend. USDT and USDC are essentially extensions of the dollar credit system on-chain. After crypto companies like Coinbase and Circle completed their IPOs, they also began to be subject to valuation standards similar to traditional listed companies. To some extent, Crypto has not created a pricing system entirely independent of TradFi, but is gradually integrating into the value assessment framework already established by the global capital market.

BitMart TradFi: A New Bridge Connecting Traditional Capital and Digital Assets

As the boundaries between TradFi and Crypto continue to blur, users' demand for cross-market asset allocation is growing rapidly. In the past, investors often had to switch between multiple platforms to view quotes for stocks, ETFs, gold, forex, and crypto assets. Now, as global capital markets move towards convergence, multi-asset trading is becoming a new development trend.

BitMart TradFi is a new functional module launched against this backdrop. By integrating access to traditional financial assets like stocks, index ETFs, precious metals, forex, and some commodities, users can track market trends, screen assets, and make trading decisions across different markets within a unified platform environment. For investors increasingly focused on global asset allocation, this means not only more trading choices but also the ability to observe global capital flows from a more complete perspective.

From a longer-term perspective, this model reflects a shift in the development direction of trading platforms. Future platform competition will no longer just be between different Crypto platforms, but between global digital financial platforms. Whoever can simultaneously connect TradFi and Crypto stands a better chance of becoming a key component of the next generation of financial infrastructure.

Future: TradFi and Crypto Will Jointly Establish a New Pricing System

On the surface, Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX are competing for IPO opportunities. But on a deeper level, they are competing for influence and pricing power in the future capital market. Because in the financial market, whoever gains market recognition can attract more capital; and whoever can continuously secure capital support can drive the next wave of industrial innovation.

For Crypto, this also signals that a new era is arriving. Over the past few years, the crypto industry relied more on its own narratives to fuel growth. However, the future development logic will increasingly align with the operational logic of the global capital market. Real demand, viable business models, revenue generation capability, and long-term value creation will gradually become core metrics of market focus.

TradFi provides mature rule systems, a global liquidity network, and powerful pricing capabilities. Crypto provides more open financial structures, more efficient value transfer methods, and continuous technological innovation. In the coming years, the most important relationship between the two might no longer be about one replacing the other, but about who can achieve better integration. As global capital continues to flow into the digital asset space, a new financial system that simultaneously incorporates TradFi's pricing power and Crypto's innovation capabilities is gradually taking shape.