1. Risk of losing your principal
Early-stage and growth companies fail at a high rate and you may lose your entire investment. Only commit capital you can afford to lose in full.
2. Liquidity and exit risk
- Private equity has no public trading market, and secondary matching may find no counterparty for a long time.
- Transfers are usually restricted by lock-up periods, rights of first refusal and the company's constitutional documents.
- A discounted exit may price significantly below the most recent financing round valuation.
3. Valuation and information asymmetry
Private companies disclose infrequently; valuations rely on assumptions and limited data and may diverge from actual value. You may receive less information than investors in public markets.
4. Regulatory and compliance risk
Rules from the US SEC and the Canadian CSA on securities offerings, tokenized assets and cross-border transactions may change, affecting the feasibility, cost or timing of a transaction.
5. Technology and custody risk
- Smart contracts may contain vulnerabilities, and blockchain networks may become congested, fork or halt.
- Loss or theft of private keys may make on-chain interests unrecoverable.
- Third-party custody, stablecoins and cross-chain bridges each introduce additional counterparty risk.
6. Dilution and structural risk
Subsequent financing rounds, option-pool expansion and liquidation preferences may dilute your holding or lower your position in the recovery waterfall.
7. Suitability
The risks above are not exhaustive. Consider your own financial situation, investment experience and risk tolerance, and decide with the help of independent advisers.
Version history
The log below lists each effective date for this document together with a summary of the main changes, so you can trace how the terms evolved.
- Version 1.2Effective: In effect
Expanded disclosures on liquidity, lock-up and smart-contract risk, and added counterparty risk for the secondary transfer market.
- Version 1.1Effective:
Added risk notes on accredited-investor determination and cross-border regulatory differences.
- Version 1.0Effective:
First release of the investor risk disclosure, listing the main risk categories for private and tokenized assets.