SpaceX’s $2 Trillion Nasdaq Debut Sparks Refund Rush Across Tokenized IPO Campaigns

SpaceX made a successful Nasdaq debut, pushing its market capitalization above $2 trillion. But across the crypto industry, campaigns to sell tokenized SpaceX shares were canceled en masse.

On June 12, global crypto platforms including Bybit, Binance, Bitget Wallet and MEXC scrapped their tokenized SpaceX IPO campaigns and began refunding users.

The disruption began after xStocks, a Kraken affiliate that had agreed to supply tokenized SpaceX shares to the exchanges, failed to deliver the underlying assets. The products had drawn strong interest because they were designed to let overseas investors buy into the SpaceX IPO in small amounts through blockchain-linked shares.

Bybit, the first platform to announce a cancellation, said it did not receive an allocation of SpaceX shares because xStocks failed to deliver the underlying assets. That left the exchange unable to distribute shares to users who had subscribed to the offering.

Binance, which had collected $557 million in USDC deposits for the campaign, said the offering could not proceed because of external circumstances beyond its control.

Bitget Wallet and MEXC are also refunding affected users after failing to secure tokenized SpaceX shares from xStocks. Alvin Kan, chief operating officer at Bitget Wallet, called the failed offering disappointing and said refunds are now being processed. He added that the episode had damaged trust in the industry, but said the company would emerge stronger from the setback.

SpaceX, which listed on Nasdaq the same day, drew intense investor demand in its market debut. The company raised a total of $75 billion, with subscription demand alone reaching more than four times the amount on offer. The stock opened at $150, above its IPO price of $135, and finished its first day at $161.11, up 19.3% from the offering price. That lifted SpaceX’s valuation above $2 trillion.