- SpaceX will launch its public issue soon.
- Crypto markets are offering pre-IPO shares of the company.
- Buyers won't own actual shares under the contrac
Elon Musk's SpaceX is expected to shatter public issue records when it makes its debut this year. The space exploration company is reportedly seeking a $1.75 trillion valuation through its initial public offering (IPO).
SpaceX also holds cryptocurrency, with 18,700 bitcoin holdings at a value of $1.3 billion, as per its prospectus.
However, what many may not know is that major crypto exchanges are already running parallel trades with respect to the SpaceX IPO.
Decentralised crypto exchange Hyperliquid launched a synthetic perpetual futures contract for SpaceX, putting out a financial derivative that tracks the Elon Musk-led company's implied share price indefinitely without any brokerage account or investor accreditation needed, as per The Motley Fool. The price of the token jumped 7% 24 hours after the SpaceX contract went live, according to the outlet.
Elsewhere, crypto exchange Binance introduced its first pre-IPO perpetual contract tied to SpaceX, Fortune India reported. The company said that the newly introduced product category earned over $280 million in cumulative trading volume within the five days of its debut.
Binance explained that the contracts are expected to reflect publicly available pricing signals before an IPO, including final offering prices. Once the company begins trading publicly, the contracts may shift to reflect live market performance.
However, these contracts don't actually give ownership of SpaceX shares; it just lets investors speculate about what other market participants believe the firm's share price should be. These contracts do not have any expiry date on which holders will get delivery of actual shares, as per FT.
Similar ventures have sprung up for Anthropic and OpenAI, which are also expected to launch IPOs this year. Anthropic recently cracked down on unauthorised trading of its pre-IPO shares. In a notice on its website, the Claude maker said it did not permit “special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to acquire Anthropic stock and any transfer of shares to an SPV are void under our transfer restrictions.
Offers to invest in Anthropic's past or future financing rounds through an SPV are prohibited.” It also cautioned against firms like Upmarket and Hiive, which purportedly offer access to its shares.
Pre-IPO perpetual futures of companies like SpaceX are seen as risky, but with the buzz around the company's IPO, investors are flocking to make a profit.
