Anthropic sent a clear message to anyone trying to buy its pre-IPO shares on the secondary market: eight specific platforms are not authorized to offer that access.
The company named Open Doors Partners, Unicorns Exchange, Pachamama Capital, Lionheart Ventures, Hiive, Forge Global, Sydecar, and Upmarket, according to TechCrunch. The list spans well-known secondary market names like Hiive and Forge Global alongside smaller, less-established operations.
Secondary markets for private company shares exist in a gray zone. They're legal but loosely regulated. Early employees and investors sometimes want liquidity before a company goes public; outside investors want access to high-growth companies before an IPO. The problem is that some platforms imply an authorization or relationship with the company that doesn't actually exist.
Anthopic's warning carries real weight given the context. The company raised $2.25 billion in early 2025 and has been valued at over $60 billion, making its shares attractive targets for secondary market activity. High valuations and strong investor demand create conditions where unauthorized platforms can attract buyers without clearly communicating the risks involved.
If you're considering buying Anthropic shares through any of the eight named platforms, the company is telling you directly that it hasn't sanctioned those transactions. That doesn't mean the shares on offer aren't real - it means Anthropic has no obligation to assist if anything goes wrong, and the terms aren't backed by anything the company has agreed to.
For users of Claude and Claude Code, this changes nothing about the products themselves. But Anthropic taking the step of publicly naming specific platforms - rather than issuing a quiet legal notice - suggests the secondary market activity had reached a scale that warranted a direct, public response.