Three of the largest crypto exchanges canceled their SpaceX products on the day of the largest IPO in history, citing a shortage of shares and hidden lock-up periods. At the same time, Hyperliquid handled $1.4 billion worth of trades in SPCX perpetual contracts without owning a single share.
On the eve of the listing, Bybit, Binance and Bitget actively promoted tokenized SpaceX products, but on the day of the offering the platforms wound down trading because they were unable to ensure physical delivery of the securities. What's more, preStocks clients faced another unpleasant surprise. Users discovered a mandatory 180-day lock-up of their allocations only after the official opening of the trading session.
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Why the tokenized products failed
Hyperliquid's synthetic perpetual SPCX contract tracks the value of assets without the need to directly own the securities, which is why the platform completely avoided the pitfalls. By contrast, the three crypto exchanges that pulled their SpaceX products on the IPO day used the xStocks infrastructure — a Kraken tool that converts real shares into blockchain tokens. As soon as xStocks failed to receive the expected IPO allocation, all three partner platforms simultaneously ceased operating with this tool.
On the other hand, with preStocks the situation unfolded differently. The platform sold access to SpaceX shares right up until the IPO, but after trading started clients unexpectedly ran into a 180-day freeze on their assets. As a result, investors were left passively watching the price rise by 19% with no ability to lock in profit.
How perpetual contracts bypassed the chaos
The SPCX instrument on Hyperliquid had no allocation problem from the outset. To accurately reflect the real market price, standard funding rates are used here, so the platform needs neither the shares themselves nor lock-up periods.
Source: BeInCrypto
