The bankruptcy of Linqto, a private investment marketplace holding 4.7 million secondary shares of Ripple, will have no impact on the broader pre-initial public offering (IPO) markets, according to EquityZen.
Linqto filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday, fueling investor concerns about the status of private investments. The company previously allowed users to invest in private companies such as Ripple ahead of potential public listings.
According to EquityZen, one of the largest secondary trading platforms for private shares, Linqto’s bankruptcy has no impact on other businesses in the pre-IPO market.
Linqto’s bankruptcy has “absolutely no bearing on EquityZen’s business or clients,” EquityZen co-founder and CEO Atish Davda told Cointelegraph.
“We can confidently confirm that investments made on EquityZen’s platform have no exposure to Linqto,” Davda added.
An overview of the pre-IPO market
In a traditional IPO, companies like Circle sell shares of their business to the public to become listed on stock exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange.
Since there are firms that are yet to move forward with IPO plans and go public, there’s also a market known as pre-IPO, which refers to investments made in the unlisted shares of companies like Ripple.
According to data from EquityZen, interest in pre-IPO investments rebounded in recent months, with investor interest rising 56% in June, the highest level since March 2023.
The spike in interest followed a steep 38% downturn in April, which came amid market volatility and risk-off appetite that resulted from US tariff announcements. Still, the decline was short-lived as the market recovered and private funding rounds picked up.
Crypto ranks as sixth-largest industry on EquityZen
EquityZen reported that the crypto sector was the sixth most popular industry for private investments on its platform in the second quarter of 2025.
“Crypto became a top ten industry in Q2. Regulatory tailwinds and broader market adoption coupled with Circle’s hugely successful IPO drove investor interest in stablecoins particularly,” EquityZen’s market insights director, Brianne Lynch, reported in an update on Monday.
Artificial intelligence led EquityZen’s pre-IPO market in Q2, followed by sectors such as information technology and fintech.
Ripple among top 10 pre-IPO markets
According to EquityZen’s insights, Ripple was among the most popular pre-IPO markets on the platform in the second quarter of the year, alongside Elon Musk’s space technology company SpaceX and the AI-powered search engine Perplexity.
With most of the top 10 companies spanning the space travel, AI and defense industries, Ripple was the only crypto-related company to make the list.
Despite the top 10 list featuring Ripple as the sole crypto-related business, other crypto firms saw strong momentum.
Related: Binance founder’s family office backs BNB treasury firm eyeing IPO
Stablecoin issuer Tether and crypto exchange Gemini were the biggest quarterly movers in Q2 on EquityZen.
Despite issuing the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, USDt (USDT), Tether has repeatedly rejected an IPO despite its biggest rival, Circle, going public in early June.
Elsewhere, Gemini has moved forward with IPO plans, announcing its submission of a confidential IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on June 6.
Magazine: Dogecoin set for rebound? Ripple eyes US banking license: Hodler’s Digest, June 29 – July 5
