Yesterday, Figma went public with an IPO priced at $33, but trading opened at $95.
As a result, the company missed out on $2.3 billion. This isn’t market hype — it’s a classic scheme: banks underprice the offering, sell cheaply to insiders, create artificial scarcity, and retail investors end up buying at inflated prices.
This practice is nothing new:
DoorDash missed out on $3.4 billion
Airbnb — $3.5 billion
Since 2020, investment banks and funds have extracted over $100 billion, bypassing the actual creators of value.
Why do companies agree to this?
To get into market indexes,
secure analyst coverage,
and earn Wall Street’s “respect”,
they have to play by the banks’ rules.
💰 Banks charge up to 7% in fees,
📞 run private placements,
and allocate shares over the phone to their own clients.
The same pattern exists in crypto:
VCs get in during private rounds
Exchanges charge heavy listing fees
Market makers dump tokens right at TGE (Token Generation Event)
🎯 Bottom line: the builders get less, the insiders get everything.