Shunyet Jan, Binance's Head of Exchange and Trading, explained how Binance prices Anthropic-linked perpetual futures in connection with the 21Shares Anthropic Synthetic ETP, an exchange-traded certificate providing synthetic exposure to the private company.
Mark-Price Methodology
Binance's Anthropic mark price updates each second from executed transactions over a rolling 10-to-100-second window. Price changes between consecutive seconds are capped at 1% in either direction, with a trailing 100-trade fallback during periods of lower trading activity. These safeguards help prevent extreme mark-price swings but do not independently appraise Anthropic's value or cap investor losses.
Certificate Structure and Counterparty Risk
The 21Shares certificate is issued by 21shares x FalconX Limited, incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Investors hold unsecured, unsubordinated debt of the issuer, while the issuer relies on FalconX Sandpiper SPC as the counterparty to manage the underlying Anthropic-linked exposure through perpetual futures on Binance and Hyperliquid. If the counterparty defaults or becomes insolvent, certificate holders could recover substantially less than the calculated note value, regardless of how Anthropic-linked prices perform.
Affiliated Contract Terms
The issuer and counterparty are affiliates under common FalconX Holdings ownership. According to the final terms, the entities within the group negotiate fixed prices, slippage, financing costs, and tracking tolerances without independent board director review or external verification that terms match arm's-length market rates.
Fees and Costs
The certificate carries multiple cost layers that can reduce investor returns:
- 1% annual investor fee
- Up to 3% annual note financing charge
- Approximately 50 basis points in indicative trading costs
- 0.005% per funding period at inception for perpetual funding, with ongoing rates variable
- 2% redemption fee, with possible additional charges
The final terms identify the Kaiko Anthropic USD Reference Rate and Binance's ANTHROPICUSDT funding rate as inputs for contract valuation. Underlying financing, trading, and perpetual-funding charges pass through to net asset value, potentially creating a gap between the reference price's performance and the certificate's actual return.
Future Pricing Scenarios
An eventual Anthropic IPO would supply an official exchange quote as a pricing reference, changing the mark-price methodology under the current design. The product would continue providing synthetic exposure rather than forcing share delivery or settlement. The legal summary warns that a public listing may never occur and that pricing disruption or instrument termination could trigger alternative valuation, replacement exposure, or early redemption with losses.
