Anthropic cracks down on unauthorized share transactions, with risks from gray-market private holdings concentrated and exposed.

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On May 19, according to Bloomberg, Anthropic has recently further expanded its ban on unauthorized share transactions, explicitly prohibiting investors from purchasing its shares through unofficial channels such as special purpose vehicles (SPVs). The company issued a stern statement on its official website, unusually naming eight related entities and declaring that transactions conducted through such channels will be considered invalid.

This means a large number of investors holding shares indirectly through intermediaries now face significant risk. In the worst-case scenario, these shares may be deemed invalid and cannot be realized when the company goes public or is acquired. After the announcement, concerns among investors about the validity of their holdings spread rapidly. From family office WhatsApp groups to X and Reddit, discussions about "whether holdings will become worthless" surged.

On the market side, the price of some publicly traded funds with exposure through SPVs dropped in response, and secondary market brokers were thrown into turmoil. As of now, there is still no clear conclusion regarding the legal validity of the related holdings, and the market remains generally in a wait-and-see state.

Legitimacy Reassessment for Shadow Shareholding Structures

While Anthropic and OpenAI had previously issued warnings about unauthorized trades, the relevant rules had long been ignored by investors. It was only after Anthropic updated its statement last week and unusually named the involved institutions that the market realized these gray-market trading models now face fundamental challenges.

Sim Desai, founder of the secondary trading platform Hiive—which was named—responded that all transactions facilitated by his company had been approved by Anthropic. Another implicated party, Sohail Prasad’s closed-end fund, saw its market value evaporate by about 25% after the ban; he insisted on social media that the shares he holds are legally valid. At present, there are differing claims, and no unified conclusion on shareholding recognition.

This incident has exposed the long-standing issues of unclear ownership and hidden risks in the private market. Analysts point out that shadow holding structures such as SPVs are widely used amid the AI investment boom, but their legal efficacy lacks clear safeguards. Some experts believe that Anthropic’s hardline stance signals a systemic review of private equity trading models, and the private technology investment ecosystem may be heading for profound adjustment.

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