SpaceX IPO Soars While Crypto Exchanges' Subscription Plans Sputter

While the success of the IPO was wildly celebrated on Wall Street and beyond, the reaction was more muted in parts of crypto, having provided a reality check to crypto exchanges' growing ambitions to offer access to private-market deals. After weeks of marketing pre-IPO subscriptions to SpaceX shares, several platforms were forced to scale back allocations or cancel them outright because of a lack of shares to distribute.

Pre-IPO promises 

In the weeks before the listing, exchange operators Kraken, Bybit and Binance each ran campaigns offering retail users access to SpaceX shares at the anticipated listing price.  

Kraken opened IPO Access through its tokenization arm xStocks, letting eligible users in more than 110 markets register for SPCXx, a tokenized claim backed 1:1 by SpaceX shares, with a reported allocation of around $400mn. 

Bybit launched IPO Express on 7 Jun with SpaceX as its inaugural offering through a partnership with xStocks, while Binance Wallet opened subscriptions for its own SPCXx campaign, requiring users to lock USD Coin (USDC) to participate.

Refunds and airdrops 

Two of the three campaigns were cancelled shortly before trading of SPCX commenced. 

Bybit said on 12 Jun that it was unable to secure SpaceX shares, cancelling all subscription orders and announcing a full refund to users along with four days of compensation at a 10% annualized rate.  

Binance also cancelled its pre-IPO campaign, citing "circumstances outside of our control." The exchange refunded all locked USDC and said it will distribute a $1mn airdrop of SPCXB, a separate 1:1-backed SpaceX token, to participants by 18 Jun, directing users to whole-share SPCX trading on its stocks platform in the meantime. 

Kraken's reduced allocation 

Kraken was allocated shares, but reportedly fewer than subscribers expected. According to the exchange's growth team, the provider behind several exchange offerings received a smaller pre-IPO allocation than anticipated, leading Kraken to partially fill subscriptions and refund the remainder.  

The SpaceX listing was the first time a major IPO launched alongside tokenized pre-IPO access products from multiple crypto exchanges. The offering reportedly drew more than $350bn in orders against a $75bn raise, leaving retail channels heavily constrained.  

With Anthropic and OpenAI public offerings reportedly on the horizon, the tokenized element of SpaceX's debut was widely viewed as the launchpad of a new class of onchain asset.