Tokenized SpaceX, Tokenized Apologies: Bybit, Binance, Bitget All Refund After xStocks Comes Up Empty 🚀

Crypto exchanges Bybit, Binance and Bitget have refunded subscription funds tied to tokenized SpaceX IPO campaigns after xStocks, the platform distributing the pre-IPO tokens, failed to deliver the underlying shares. "Due to xStocks' inability to deliver the underlying assets, no SpaceX allocations were received," Bybit posted on X on June 12, adding that 100% of subscription funds would be returned to users' original funding accounts with no action required. Bitget Wallet said the xStocks team "made every effort to secure the allocation, but it ultimately wasn't available as expected," while Binance said it could not proceed with its SPCXx campaign "due to circumstances outside of our control." A representative for xStocks did not immediately respond to requests for comment and did not publicly address the incident, though the firm noted on X that "IPO xStocks are tokenized equities providing price exposure only—not direct ownership," and that allocations were not guaranteed.

Binance said participating users would receive full USDC refunds along with a $1 million SPCXB token airdrop distributed equally among campaign participants, with founder and former CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao posting on X that the priority is to "protect users when things don't go as planned." Bybit said eligible participants would receive an additional reward based on a 10% APR over a fixed 4-day period, credited automatically to user accounts. Refund details are available on Bybit's IPO Express page. The collapses come as SpaceX completed its IPO on Nasdaq at $135 per share before opening at $150, an 11% gain, and climbing more than 26% since trading began to change hands recently at $172.31. The offering raised $75 billion, making it the largest IPO in U.S. history, and lifted SpaceX's market capitalization above $2.2 trillion, vaulting founder Elon Musk to trillionaire status and making the company the seventh-largest in the world by market cap.

Demand for tokenized SpaceX exposure vastly outstripped supply across distribution channels. The offering was reported to be oversubscribed by more than four times, and some Robinhood users shared screenshots on social media showing only partial fills, including one who said they received 19 shares after requesting 100. Kraken-linked IPO access channels acknowledged unusually high global demand and said allocations were distributed proportionally among eligible users. The episode laid bare the structural limits of tokenized equity infrastructure: while platforms market these products as blockchain-native financial instruments, they still rely on real shares sourced through traditional financial channels, leaving them exposed to the same institutional allocation systems, supply constraints and private-market bottlenecks that govern conventional IPO distribution.

The SpaceX rollout nonetheless emerged as a major stress test for tokenized IPO rails during a large-scale global demand event, with activity spilling into derivatives markets. On Hyperliquid, pre-IPO perpetual contracts on SpaceX (SPCX) amassed over $240 million in open interest and $220 million in 24-hour volume, making SPCX the eighth-largest asset on the platform. Coinbase International offered a similar product, allowing users to take long or short positions on the private company before its official public listing and help shape price discovery. The tokenized push now faces renewed scrutiny after three major exchanges were forced to unwind their campaigns on the same day the underlying stock made its historic market debut.