Bybit, Binance and Bitget Cancel Tokenized SpaceX IPO Offers

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As a result, users who subscribed in crypto walked away empty-handed. Meanwhile, SpaceX stock (Nasdaq: SPCX) opened near $150 and closed up about 19% near $161. So the people promised early access missed one of the year’s biggest first-day pops.

Why the Tokenized SpaceX IPO Offers Collapsed

The setup looked simple, at least on paper. Users subscribed with stablecoins like USDC. In return, they expected tokens backed one-to-one by real SpaceX shares.

Behind the scenes, xStocks had to source those shares from the IPO. The platform is a tokenized equities provider tied to Payward and Kraken. But the SpaceX listing was heavily oversubscribed, and institutions took the bulk of the allocation.

SpaceX priced at $135 per share and raised a record $75 billion. Because xStocks could not secure enough stock, the exchanges had nothing to hand out. So each venue cancelled rather than issue tokens with no backing.

How Bybit, Binance, and Bitget Refunded Users

All three venues moved to full refunds on the same day. Still, the details differ.

Bybit ran its offer as “Bybit IPO Express,” with subscriptions open from June 7 to 11. According to Bybit, “xStocks’ inability to deliver the underlying assets” meant it received no allocation. The exchange refunded every subscriber automatically. On top of that, it added a reward calculated at 10% APR over a fixed four-day period.

Binance drew the largest crowd. Its SPCXx campaign pulled in roughly $557 million in onchain USDC subscriptions. Binance blamed “circumstances outside of our control” and refunded all locked USDC.

In addition, Binance pledged a $1 million airdrop of its own bStocks SPCXB token. The exchange describes that token as 1:1 backed by real SpaceX shares. Participants get it split equally by June 18. Binance also opened direct SPCX stock trading.

Bitget Wallet took a similar path. According to the team, “unforeseen market circumstances” blocked the allocation, even though xStocks “made every effort to secure” it. Bitget then promised a 100% refund, including its 5% handling fee. It also whitelisted affected wallets for future tokenized IPOs and added a $10 gas fee voucher.

What a Tokenized Stock Actually Requires

Tokenized stocks let users buy crypto exposure to equities they normally cannot reach. In the backed model, a provider buys real shares through brokers. Then it holds them in regulated custody and issues one token per share.

So the token only works if the shares exist. A “share shortage” happens when crypto demand outruns the stock a provider can actually buy. Here, IPO allocations went mostly to institutions, and retail crypto demand had little left to claim.

This is also where the centralized route differs from a broker. A traditional broker plugs straight into the IPO book. The exchange version instead leaned on a third party for both shares and tokenization. That extra link became the point of failure.

On-Chain Products Delivered While Exchanges Stumbled

The contrast was hard to miss. While the centralized campaigns collapsed, several on-chain products launched and traded the same day.

Backpack listed an SPCX token on Solana. It reportedly cleared about $52 million in volume within 24 hours across more than 110,000 trades. Ondo also rolled out SPCXon across multiple chains. xStocks itself ran a DeFi SPCXx token on decentralized exchanges from the morning of the debut.

None of the cancelled exchange campaigns produced any tokens for users. They were off-chain synthetic offers that depended on xStocks delivering stock. As a result, there are no contract addresses, mints, or redemptions to point to, according to onchain reporting from The Defiant.

Backlash Tests Trust in Tokenized IPOs

The reaction online was quick and sharp. On X, many users said the exchanges overpromised easy IPO access and then left them with nothing.

Some posts turned sarcastic, joking that tokenised stocks “are not real.” Others accused the venues of pocketing first-day gains, though no evidence supports that claim. Supporters noted that refunds arrived fast and came with extra rewards.

xStocks, for its part, gave no detailed public explanation. So several questions stay open. The exact size of the shortfall is unclear. Whether any funds went toward buying shares is also unknown.

What the Failure Means for Tokenized IPOs

For now, the episode reads as a stress test for real-world asset tokenization. The demand was clearly there. The plumbing was not.

The split outcome points to a lesson. On-chain rails delivered exposure, while the centralized path broke at its weakest link. So exchanges may push for direct allocations or deeper custody partners before the next marquee listing.

Whether users trust these products again will depend on the next attempt. The next major listing will test whether a tokenized SpaceX IPO style offer can finally clear. This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice.