ipShares: Bringing the World’s Most Valuable Private Companies to Stock Exchanges

A $10 Trillion Market Opportunity For Global Markets & Investors

Abstract

The global economy is increasingly driven by intellectual property (IP), digital platforms, and innovation ecosystems rather than physical capital. Yet financial markets still lack mechanisms to directly trade or benchmark the value generated by these intangible assets.

Many of the world’s most influential companies—including OpenAI, SpaceX, Telegram, and ByteDance—remain private while shaping global technological development. As a result, their economic influence is largely inaccessible to public investors and cannot be efficiently priced by global capital markets.

This paper introduces ipShares®, a class of perpetual synthetic derivative instruments designed to allow markets to trade the intellectual-property-driven component of corporate and ecosystem value. Together with ipIndex™, a benchmark measuring the aggregate value of the global innovation economy, the ipShares framework establishes the foundations of a new financial asset class: intellectual property derivatives.

By enabling liquid market exposure to private innovation ecosystems without requiring companies to become publicly listed, ipShares could unlock a multi-trillion-dollar asset class, with a realistic early-stage market opportunity exceeding $10 trillion.

1. The Structural Gap in Modern Capital Markets

The structure of global innovation has changed dramatically over the past two decades.

Historically, high-growth companies eventually entered public markets through initial public offerings (IPOs). Today, however, many of the most influential technology firms remain private for far longer periods or indefinitely.

Examples include:

• OpenAI
• SpaceX
• ByteDance
• Stripe
• Anthropic
• Databricks

These companies influence entire industries—from artificial intelligence to space infrastructure—yet their economic value remains confined to private investment networks.

This phenomenon creates what can be described as the “private-stay paradox.”

Private firms increasingly dominate innovation while public markets lose visibility into the technological frontier of the global economy.

Consequently:

• investors lack liquid exposure to innovation ecosystems,
• exchanges cannot price the economic influence of private technology leaders,
• and macroeconomic statistics struggle to measure IP-driven growth.

The ipShares framework addresses this structural market gap.

2. The Rise of the Intangible Economy

The transformation of global markets is largely driven by the growing dominance of intangible assets.

Research indicates that intellectual property—including software, algorithms, patents, brands, and digital platforms—now represents the majority of corporate value.

In many technology companies, 50–90% of market capitalization can be attributed to intellectual property and intangible assets.

Globally, the estimated value of intellectual property assets approaches $90 trillion, reflecting the central role of innovation in economic growth.

Despite this scale, most financial markets remain structured around equity ownership rather than IP-driven value creation.

As a result:

• intellectual property is priced indirectly through corporate shares,
• innovation ecosystems cannot be traded independently,
• and private technological platforms remain largely invisible to global capital markets.

The ipShares framework introduces a mechanism through which the IP-driven layer of economic value becomes directly tradable.

3. The ipShares Framework

ipShares® are perpetual synthetic derivative instruments designed to allow markets to trade intellectual-property-driven value independently of corporate equity.

These instruments do not represent ownership of a company or its intellectual property.

Instead, they function as market-based price discovery tools reflecting the perceived value of innovation ecosystems.

Key characteristics include:

• perpetual structure with no maturity
• cash-settled price exposure
• no equity or debt claims
• no intellectual property collateralization
• no requirement for corporate participation or approval
• compatibility with standard exchange margining and clearing systems

In essence, ipShares isolate and surface the IP-driven valuation layer already embedded within modern economic systems.

This approach allows markets to trade exposure to innovation without altering corporate governance structures or requiring companies to enter public markets.

4. Example Instruments: ipOpenAI & ipTelegram

To illustrate the vision, consider two potential ipShares instruments.

ipOpenAI

An instrument such as ipOpenAI would track the market’s perception of the intellectual-property-driven value generated by the ecosystem surrounding OpenAI.

Relevant drivers could include:

• adoption of large language models,
• developer ecosystem growth,
• enterprise AI deployment,
• global AI infrastructure influence.

Rather than trading equity in OpenAI, markets would trade ipOpenAI to the innovation ecosystem created by its technologies.

ipTelegram

Similarly, ipTelegram could reflect the economic influence of the digital platform ecosystem built by Telegram.

Key drivers might include:

• messaging infrastructure adoption,
• decentralized communities,
• developer integrations,
• digital identity networks,
• emerging digital financial systems.

Through ipShares instruments, exchanges can create liquid Stock Market to platform ecosystems without requiring corporate listings.

5. ipIndex: Benchmarking the Global Innovation Economy

The ipShares ecosystem is complemented by ipIndex™, a benchmark designed to measure the aggregate intellectual-property-driven value embedded in the global economy.

ipIndex aggregates multiple ipShares instruments across sectors such as:

• artificial intelligence
• digital platforms
• financial technology
• space infrastructure
• defense and advanced manufacturing

The index functions similarly to traditional equity benchmarks but focuses specifically on innovation ecosystems and intellectual-property value.

By anchoring IP valuation to live market prices, ipIndex enables a standardized method for measuring the contribution of intellectual property to economic growth and technological development.

Over time, ipIndex could become a global benchmark for the intangible economy, analogous to how major equity indices represent industrial and financial markets.

6. Exchange Integration and Market Infrastructure

ipShares are designed to integrate seamlessly with existing exchange infrastructure.

From an operational perspective, exchanges can list ipShares instruments using familiar market frameworks, including:

• margin-based derivatives trading,
• conventional clearing systems,
• institutional market-making models,
• standard risk management infrastructure.

Because ipShares are cash-settled synthetic instruments, they do not require custody of underlying assets or corporate participation.

The framework also allows optional tokenized implementations, enabling continuous global trading environments aligned with the digital nature of modern innovation ecosystems.

This hybrid architecture allows ipShares to operate across both traditional financial exchanges and emerging digital trading platforms.

7. The $10 Trillion Market Opportunity

The introduction of tradable intellectual-property derivatives could unlock a new asset class of significant scale.

Several structural forces support this potential.

7.1 Expansion of the Intangible Economy

With global intellectual property estimated near $90 trillion, even a modest portion becoming tradable through derivatives would represent a substantial financial market.

7.2 Depth of Global Derivatives Markets

The global derivatives market already exceeds $300 trillion in notional exposure, demonstrating the scale at which financial markets trade synthetic risk and value signals.

ipShares extend this principle into intellectual property and innovation ecosystems.

7.3 Demand for Innovation Exposure

Institutional investors increasingly seek exposure to high-growth technological sectors but face structural barriers to accessing private companies.

ipShares provide a market-based solution by enabling tradable exposure to innovation ecosystems without requiring corporate equity issuance.

7.4 Emergence of Intellectual Property as a Tradable Asset Class

As AI models, digital platforms, and data infrastructure become primary drivers of economic growth, intellectual property itself is evolving into a first-class economic asset.

Within this context, a $10 trillion ipShares market represents a realistic early phase in the development of global intellectual-property derivatives.

8. Implications for Global Capital Markets

The introduction of intellectual-property derivatives has implications across financial systems.

For investors

• exposure to previously inaccessible innovation ecosystems
• diversification across technological sectors
• improved transparency in private-market valuation

For exchanges

• creation of a new derivatives category
• increased trading volume and liquidity
• leadership in financial innovation

For policymakers

• improved measurement of IP-driven economic activity
• enhanced transparency in innovation markets
• stronger integration of intangible assets into macroeconomic frameworks

9. Conclusion

The global economy is transitioning from industrial capital toward intellectual capital.

Yet financial markets still lack mechanisms capable of pricing the economic influence of innovation ecosystems—particularly those built by private technology leaders.

The ipShares framework provides a pathway through which intellectual-property-driven value becomes visible, tradable, and benchmarked within global markets.

Together with ipIndex, this architecture establishes the foundations of a new financial asset class: intellectual property derivatives.

If successfully implemented across major exchanges, ipShares could reshape the relationship between innovation and capital markets—unlocking a multi-trillion-dollar financial ecosystem at the intersection of finance, technology, and intellectual property.