市场新闻
Linqto 倒闭：对首次公开募股前投资者的意义
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临危受命的 Linqto
Linqto, an investment platform that lets users access shares of privately held companies, filed for bankruptcy on July 8, 2025.
这可能会危及使用 Linqto 购买私人公司股票的投资者的资金，特别是加密货币公司 Ripple 的资金。
The major concern stems from the bankruptcy filing, as well as the declaration by Dan Siciliano, Linqto’s CEO:
“Linqto had discovered serious defects in the corporate formation, structure, and operation of the business that raise questions about what customers actually own. The company faces “potentially insurmountable operating challenges.”
To understand what happened, we first need to discuss Linqto’s business model and what they seem not to have done as advertised.
Linqto 解释
私有股份与公有股份
Privately held companies are generally not accessible to most investors. This is because participating in the fundraising for these types of companies is limited to “accredited investors”, a term strictly 由美国证券交易委员会界定 (证券交易委员会）。
经认可的投资者必须有很高的收入，通常超过每年 $20 万（附加标准是该收入必须稳定），或者有超过 $100 万的高净资产（不包括其主要住所）。
Private companies’ shares are generally accessible either through participation in funding rounds (an activity often done by private equity firms) or in “secondary markets”, where early investors, founders, or employees can sell some of the shares they own before a public listing.
资料来源 Linqto
这可以打开通往其他无法投资的公司的通道，例如 Open AI、SpaceX、Kraken、Shield AI 或 Ripple。Linqto 就是这样一个私人股票二级市场。
Linqto’s Business Model
Linqto promised its users 3 main features: instant ownership, direct economic interest in the company associated with the share, and segregation of assets, with the users’ assets held in a separate account from Linqto’s own assets.
资料来源 Linqto
Linqto 致力于投资处于中后期阶段的公司，相信这些公司将在未来五年内上市或被收购。
So for most investors, the way to “cash-in” from their investment in private companies would be to liquidate their Linqto position after the lockup period following an IPO or acquisition expires, receiving either the cash into their bank account, or the shares in a brokerage account.
Among Linqto’s advantages was a very low initial minimum ($1,000), one of the industry’s lowest.
The way Linqto made money was not through fees, as it had no carry, legal, administrative, or profit fees. It instead made money with a purchase premium, reselling the share of private companies it owned at a “reasonable” premium (the actual percentage was undisclosed).
现在看来，其中一些保险费相当高、 有报道称，瑞波币股票加价 60%甚至可能更高（超过 10% 通常会被美国证券交易委员会标记为潜在欺诈）。
Linqto’s model requires it to deploy special purpose vehicles (SPVs), which are a separate company that is 破产遥控器, allowing users extra protection against a potential Linqto’s financial distress.
资料来源 邦多罗
出了什么问题？
| 承诺 | 现实 |
|---|---|
| 保护资产的 SPV 结构 | 未设立 SPV；资产集中管理 |
| 低保费 | Markups of 30%–150% Reported |
| 客户资产分离 | 未发现法律隔离 |
由于申请破产，不少信息已被公开。
It appears that Linqto holds $500M worth of shares 111家公司 代表其客户。通过 Linqto 可以访问的一些最著名的公司包括 Stripe、Zipline、Scale AI、Ripple、Patreon、Kraken 和 Acorns。
主要问题是 法庭文件显示，Linqto 从未正式确定其承诺的特殊目的载体 (SPV) 结构该公司没有建立系列有限责任公司，也没有保存适当的记录。
资料来源 邦多罗
So, contrary to the very clear promise made of segregation of assets, still displayed in Linqto’s front page, the platform pooled assets with no legal segregation or individual title, according to 托马斯-布拉齐尔一位律师分享了 他对 X 案的分析.
因此，这似乎是一起明显的欺诈案，至少是在承诺没有兑现的意义上。
然而，正如 约翰-迪顿, also an attorney, there was no significant fraud in the purchase of shares with users’ money. So the money does not appear to have been stolen, but the corporate structure was never as advertised.
Deaton is a Massachusetts attorney and Linqto customer representative, 他本人 通过该平台向私营公司投资了近 50 万美元.
“The other GREAT news is that ALL the shares of companies people invested in (Circle, Ripple, Uphold, Kraken. SpaceX, etc) are present and accounted for. The only caveat to that is that 3% of the shares of Ripple that should be there were sold without people’s knowledge – but the funds related to that sale are there. ”
法律问题似乎是多方面的：
- 没有设立 SPV，违背了承诺。
- 某些股票和交易的标价过高。
- Linqto 可能允许一些未经认可的投资者参与私人股票销售，这违反了联邦证券法规。
谁之过？
The initial blame seems to fall to the company’s founders, husband and wife Bill and Vicki Sarris, as the decision not to create the SPV structure properly was likely made by them.
林克托锯 2025 年 3 月任命新首席执行官丹尼尔-西西里亚诺（Daniel Siciliano）现在将责任归咎于公司的前任管理层。在他的带领下，整个管理团队都发生了变化，包括 Linqto Capital 首席执行官、Linqto Capital 法律总顾问、首席运营官和首席行政官。
Daniel Siciliano’s statement at his appointment indicates he knew some problems were brewing.
“I am excited to be joining Linqto at this inflection moment in the Company’s history.
尽管亟需重新设定我们的合规方法，但我们新任执行领导团队的所有人都相信，Linqto 有希望释放出真正的价值。
新管理团队的大部分成员来自 尼克尔该公司现已停止运营。该公司还活跃于私人资本市场。
Nikkl 向独角兽公司员工提供资金，以便他们行使既得股票期权，购买独角兽公司的普通股。作为交换，投资者可获得独角兽股票产生的部分回报。
总的看来，公司董事会要么已经知道，要么最近意识到存在很大的问题，决定在将来接受调查之前向监管机构坦白。
“The regulatory issues left unresolved by prior management are critical to address immediately. When we do, we are confident we can deliver on our original mission in a manner that fully complies with all laws and regulations.”
华尔街日报》讨论了新管理层的立场目前还不清楚这种说法的真实性，法庭程序可能会澄清谁知道什么。
“An internal investigation had uncovered serious securities law violations and practices far beyond minor compliance issues.
Much of what we discovered about the prior business practices at Linqto is disturbing.”
Dan Siciliano – Linqto’s new CEO
What’s Next For Linqto Users?
Most likely, a lengthy legal battle will ensue, with the new management trying to save the company, the old management denying any wrongdoing, and the court having to figure out if the company’s board was truly blindsided or actively decided to look the other way.
由于 Linqto 股东（公司所有者，而非用户）的原因，破产本身可能会陷入法律困境 显然是想对抗破产程序.
一个核心问题是，用户的资产和资金将何去何从。
一种可能是必须清算资产，这可能是最坏的情况。这是因为这些股票没有公开上市，流动性很差。
因此，强制出售大量私人股份可能会使其价值缩水，而法院下令的紧急出售很可能无法实现资产的真正价值。
更好的选择是公司进行重组，在破产程序期间清理其业务，然后从破产中重新崛起。如果这是可能的，并得到法院的批准，这将可能是用户私人投资的一种方式，而不会造成不必要的经济损失。
总体看来，Linqto 确实购买了它所说的股票，尽管加价过高，而且其中许多公司后来都有了大幅增长，这意味着一些资产的实际价值可能比资产负债表上显示的要高得多。
因此，Linqto 用户仍有可能拿回他们的钱，甚至从投资中获利，这取决于破产的进展情况和法律费用的成本。
还能从哪里获取私人股票？
当然，Linqto 的倒闭也让投资私募股权市场的风险成为焦点。总体而言，与审查严格得多的公开市场相比，私募股权市场的透明度较低、监管较少，而且更容易出现欺诈行为。
不过，这并不妨碍有经验的投资者考虑这一想法。
首先，这种情况证明该行业实际上受到了很好的监管，潜在的欺诈行为正在被揭露出来。
其次，理想的风险控制方式是将投资分散到多个平台，私募股权投资只占整个投资组合的一部分。
如果您符合要求并能承受风险，一些平台会提供上市前的机会：
锻造全球:最大的私人股票市场之一，提供 SpaceX、Stripe 和 Databricks 等处于后期阶段的创业公司的股票。最低起价通常在 $100,000 左右。
EquityZen:这是一个广受欢迎的平台，允许经认可的投资者以低至 $5,000 的最低价购买私营公司的股份。过去推出的产品包括 Discord 和 UiPath 等公司。
霖生证券:提供全方位服务的经纪人，帮助寻找和洽谈私人股票销售，包括 OpenAI、Stripe 和 Palantir 等公司的机会。
Hiive:一个较新的平台，为数百家私营公司提供实时买卖报价。透明度高，收费低，最低起价约为 $25,000。
微型企业:通过特殊目的载体 (SPV) 为处于后期阶段的公司提供集合投资机会，包括过去对 SpaceX 和 Instacart 的投资。
EquityBee:允许投资者为初创企业的员工股票期权行使提供资金，通常以折扣估值，最低金额约为 $10,000 美元。
增强:一个数字优先的市场，显示首次公开发行前股票的实时价格，以精通技术的投资者为目标，提供较低的交易费用。
StartEngine Private:该平台于 2023 年底推出，为经认可的投资者提供 D 条例规定的后期风险投资公司的投资机会。在头九个月中，它创造了 $1650 万美元的收入，平均投资额约为 $32000 美元。
Linqto 之后，上市前投资是否面临风险？
Linqto 的情况暂时不会直接影响到其持有股份的公司。
在最坏的情况下，它可能会造成二级私人市场的暂时供应过剩，而且只有在法院下令立即全部清算所有 Linqto 资产，而不管这些资产可以获得什么价格的情况下才会出现这种情况。
声誉损失也应该是有限的，像瑞波公司（Ripple）这样风险最大的公司已经采取了预防措施。
“Understandably, there have been many questions from those who believed they were buying Ripple shares from Linqto, and what happens next.
What we know from our records is Linqto owns 4.7 million shares of Ripple, solely purchased on the secondary market from other Ripple shareholders (never directly from Ripple).”
Brad Garlinghouse reiterated that the firm itself never sold shares to Linqto or had any formal business relationship with the platform.
结论
Linqto’s situation is rather unfortunate, and hopefully, it should not cause a loss of money for its users who trusted the platform.
然而，这不应该改变人们对私募股权投资这个更大的领域的看法。至少不会比过去公共市场的丑闻（安然、次贷）对公共市场长期可投资性的影响更大。
Investing is an inherently risky activity. A more illiquid market, like private equity, is even more so. This is nevertheless an increasingly attractive sector, as the world’s leading companies like OpenAI or SpaceX are delaying IPO much more today than equivalent companies in past decades.
随着大量资金流入该行业，不良行为者歪曲事实、欺诈投资者的诱惑也随之增加。这就是为什么最好选择成熟的、经过严格审核的平台，以及不要只使用一个平台的原因。
投资者还应注意业务模式的透明度，有时清楚了解的收费比不透明的无收费方式更可取。
