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 the global capital market over the past two years has been AI, then one of the most closely watched events in 2026 might be the wave of AI companies heading toward 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 capital market path is also a frequent topic of discussion. As the global IPO market revives, capital is reassessing the value of growth-stage companies, while TradFi still holds the most crucial gateway for capital and valuation systems.

Many people focus on the wealth effect these companies might create after listing, but the real question the capital market cares about is something else: How much are these companies actually worth? For a company like Anthropic, an IPO means more than just fundraising; it means being publicly priced by the global market for the first time. 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 every mega-IPO often represents not just a corporate growth story but a reaffirmation of market pricing power. From the internet era to the mobile internet era and now to the age of artificial intelligence, 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 Market Pricing for Assets

Many people simply equate TradFi with banks, brokerages, or the stock market. However, in reality, the core capability of TradFi is not fundraising, but pricing. Fundraising addresses a company's need to obtain 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 private market, but this price essentially still results from negotiations 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 price discovery mechanism, allowing asset prices to continuously form new consensus through ongoing trading.

This capability is crucial for the entire economic system. The price set by the capital market not only affects a company's ability to raise funds but also influences the future flow of resources within the entire industry. When NVIDIA became one of the world's most valuable tech companies, the market began to reassess the value of the entire AI supply chain. When Tesla achieved a valuation far exceeding that of traditional automakers, the new energy industry also gained more capital support. In other words, the public market doesn't just grant a numerical valuation; it determines which industries receive more resources and which technologies get more development opportunities. This is the fundamental reason TradFi has long held the pricing power in the mainstream capital market.

Why More Innovative Assets Are Choosing to Embrace TradFi

In recent years, a viewpoint has emerged in both the tech and crypto industries: innovative companies don't necessarily need to rely on traditional financial markets. Especially during the rapid development of Web3 and digital assets, many believed new fundraising models could bypass the traditional capital system and build a new ecosystem independent of Wall Street.

However, the actual development direction has been quite the opposite. As the market matures, more and more innovative companies are proactively embracing TradFi. The reason is not complicated: the capital market provides not just capital, but also the most mature value amplification mechanism globally. After a company completes an IPO, it gains not only fundraising 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 perfectly 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 candidate. Their true competition is not merely for fundraising opportunities, but for 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 sector, a new public chain, or even a popular Meme could gain enormous market attention in a short period. The market's focus was on the story, not the value itself.

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

The emergence 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 it using methods applied to stocks, gold, and macroeconomic assets. The market's focus is shifting from on-chain narratives to factors like US dollar liquidity, Federal Reserve policies, risk appetite, and global asset allocation needs. Bitcoin is increasingly resembling a global macro asset, rather than just a trading vehicle within the crypto market.

Meanwhile, the development of stablecoins has further reinforced this trend. USDT and USDC are essentially extensions of the US dollar credit system on the blockchain. 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 hasn't created a pricing system completely independent of TradFi; instead, it is gradually integrating into the valuation framework already established by the global capital market.

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

As the boundary between TradFi and Crypto continues to blur, the demand for cross-market asset allocation among users is growing rapidly. In the past, investors often had to switch between multiple platforms to check prices for stocks, ETFs, gold, forex, and crypto assets. As the global capital market moves towards integration, multi-asset trading is becoming a new trend.

BitMart TradFi is a new functional module launched against this backdrop. By integrating access to traditional financial assets such as stocks, index ETFs, precious metals, forex, and some commodities, users can perform market tracking, asset screening, and trading decisions across different markets within a unified platform environment. For investors increasingly focused on global asset allocation, this means not only more trading options 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 competition among platforms will no longer be just between different crypto platforms, but between global digital finance platforms. The one that can connect both TradFi and Crypto will be better positioned to become a key component of the next generation of financial infrastructure.

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

On the surface, Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX are competing for IPO opportunities. But at a deeper level, they are vying for voice and pricing power in the future capital market. In the financial market, those who gain market recognition attract more capital; and those who continuously secure capital support can drive the next wave of industrial innovation.

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

TradFi provides mature rule systems, global liquidity networks, and powerful pricing capabilities. Crypto offers more open financial structures, more efficient ways of value transfer, and continuous technological innovation. In the coming years, the most important relationship between the two might not be about one replacing the other, but about who can achieve better integration. As global capital continuously flows into the digital asset space, a new financial system that merges TradFi's pricing power with Crypto's innovative capabilities is gradually taking shape.