Exploring the Mystery of OpenAI's Stock Price: A Complete Analysis of Private Stocks and Tokenized Assets

Sam Altman perhaps didn't expect himself that the company he founded, OpenAI, would not only change the world but also reshape the valuation logic of the capital markets. This global startup with the highest valuation has its private shares trading at a secondary market price of $723.00.

However, in the crypto world, a token called OPENAIERC fluctuates at less than $0.004, with no direct connection to OpenAI itself.

01 Unlisted Giant

OpenAI has not yet gone public and remains a private company. But this does not prevent it from being the highest-valued startup globally.

According to Yahoo Finance data, as of January 15, 2026, OpenAI's private market share price is $723.00, with a company valuation reaching an astonishing $499.92 billion.

This valuation level makes OpenAI the most expensive startup in the world, far surpassing the second-ranked SpaceX (about $350 billion). In just over a year, OpenAI's valuation has experienced explosive growth.

Looking at its funding history, in October 2024, when OpenAI completed a $575 million financing round, its valuation was only $15.7 billion; by March 2025, a $40 billion funding round pushed the valuation to $300 billion.

02 Financial Challenges and Valuation Controversy

Supporting such a high valuation are OpenAI's rapid revenue growth and equally staggering losses. In the first half of 2025, OpenAI achieved revenue of $4.3 billion, already surpassing its total revenue for 2024.

At the same time, the company's net loss reached $13.5 billion, with cash consumption of $2.5 billion. R&D costs are the largest expense item, totaling $6.7 billion, mainly used for developing new AI models and running servers for products like ChatGPT.

Famous short-seller Michael Burry has bluntly stated, “If OpenAI's valuation really reaches $500 billion, I would definitely short it without hesitation.”

He believes there is a huge gap between capital expenditure and actual revenue in the current AI field, and many investments may not yield expected returns.

03 Tokenized Assets and Private Shares

For ordinary investors, directly investing in OpenAI's private shares has a high threshold, but the crypto market offers an alternative — tokenized stocks.

These assets attempt to track the stock performance of related companies but are not issued directly by the companies. On trading platforms like Gate, you can find such tokenized assets, providing investors with another way to participate in the AI wave.

It is important to distinguish that cryptocurrencies with “OpenAI” in their names (like OPENAIERC) do not represent equity in OpenAI but are independent crypto assets.

As of April 21, 2025, data shows that OPENAIERC is priced at about $0.003943, up 4.80% in one day. In contrast, tokenized stocks linked to OpenAI's actual equity are priced around $1,000.

The table below compares these two easily confused asset types:

04 Stargate and Capital Battles

OpenAI's future is closely tied to a massive project called “Stargate.” This is a $500 billion AI infrastructure initiative jointly promoted by OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank.

In January 2026, OpenAI and SoftBank announced an investment of $1 billion in SB Energy, a renewable energy developer, to support its AI infrastructure expansion.

Behind these huge investments is OpenAI's expectation of exponential growth in computing power demand. The company has signed data center and related infrastructure agreements totaling over $1.4 trillion.

Sam Altman believes, “Only when we build enough computing power can AI fulfill its promise.”

05 How to Participate in the AI Investment Wave on Gate

For investors looking to position themselves in the AI field, Gate offers multiple ways to participate. The platform's various AI-related tokens and tokenized assets provide convenient investment channels.

Before investing, it is essential to clearly distinguish different types of assets: tokenized stocks representing company equity, practical tokens related to AI technology, and meme coins that simply use “AI” or “OpenAI” as marketing gimmicks.

Investment decisions should be based on thorough research, not just name association. Gate's platform advantages include its wide selection of trading pairs and liquidity, enabling investors to quickly enter or exit positions.

The platform also provides detailed project information and real-time data to help users make more informed decisions.

Future Outlook

A chart showing the total global AI computing power reaching 15 million H100 GPU equivalents fills the screen. Next to the chart, OpenAI's valuation curve rises almost vertically, from $15.7 billion to $500 billion in less than two years.

Moving left, the energy consumption data is shocking: just the power consumption of AI chips alone reaches 10GW, equivalent to the average electricity usage of two New York Cities.

When Sam Altman declares, “We have crossed the event horizon; the takeoff has begun,” he is pointing not only to the technological singularity but also to a high-stakes gamble involving capital, energy, and human wisdom.