IPOs Are a Boom for Crypto

June gave us a glimpse of what’s coming for digital assets with the initial public offering (IPO) of SpaceX.

• $31 million worth of SpaceX shares were tokenized via xStocks.
• $12.5 million was tokenized by Ondo Finance.
• 250 million shares of SpaceX traded on Solana’s decentralized exchange, Jupiter.
• 55 million contracts traded on Hyperliquid.

That’s one stock, just in June.

Millions more in volume and tokenized value traded across various centralized and decentralized exchanges in the industry.

Meanwhile, 2.3 billion shares traded on the Nasdaq during the same month. That means two decentralized exchanges did nearly 14% of what happened on the Nasdaq.

Think of that for a moment. The Nasdaq is where institutional capital flows. It’s where trading happens.

Meanwhile, public blockchain technology – which most fund managers are unable to get compliance departments to green light for them, on platforms that restrict U.S. traders and investors, no less – is witnessing incredible volume.

It’s truly remarkable.

SpaceX was a record-setting initial public offering for not just Wall Street but public blockchains as well. It arguably set off a tidal wave of activity, with blockchains experiencing record activity related to stocks.

Source: X @KobeissiLetter

It’s a trend that not only shows no signs of slowing down… but is arguably getting ready to go into hyperdrive.

The Year of IPOs

When we think of IPOs this year, SpaceX is top of mind.

It generated $75 million in proceeds, giving it a $1.77 trillion valuation as it made its debut as a publicly traded company.

While those figures are impressive, remember that SpaceX is just one IPO of 2026. In the first quarter alone, we saw 99 IPOs, as recorded by the SEC.

Source: SEC.gov

That’s the second-highest number of Q1 IPOs in the last 25 years. Q1 typically has a lower number of offerings than the remaining quarters of a year. So we should see even more in the months to come.

This includes the biggest of names, like Anthropic and OpenAI, among other AI companies looking to hit the public markets. These are companies that are butting up against $1 trillion valuations. The globe is eager to gain access to their potential – and not just in the traditional way of buying shares.

We covered the growing trend of onchain activity related to pre-IPOs in SpaceX Is Already Trading, where we discussed the Hyperliquid platform listing companies before they go public. Traders can speculate on the share price before the company’s shares officially start trading.

Cerebras, Quantinuum, and SpaceX were the first few names to trade on the pre-IPO market.

But we’re now seeing pre-IPOs beyond the U.S. markets, too. For example, the latest name is ChangXin Memory Technologies, a company that is set to start trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange later this month.

This is all happening as Robinhood rolls out its competing solution with Robinhood Chain and Stock Tokens. Kraken, a crypto exchange, offers tokenized stock tokens via xStocks. It too has its own layer-two chain called Ink. Coinbase has its layer-two network, Base, that’s trying to compete as well.

The ramp-up of big-name IPOs coming will only fuel the trend we’re seeing onchain.

Right now, SpaceX’s digital asset action commanded 14% of what the Nasdaq did in June. Soon, that number will be more.

Regulators Are Moving

Regular readers of Chain of Thought may recall A Shot Across the Bow for the Banks, where we touched on some rules the SEC is rescinding to make tokenized securities tradable onchain. That proposal came out of the SEC via a vote.

And Congress doesn’t have to pass the CLARITY Act for this proposal to kick in. Remember, CLARITY is a bill that sets the regulatory framework for digital assets, and the final text should finally being released today or tomorrow.

This SEC proposal that is getting rid of an old rule is already gaining momentum with three GOP House members backing the SEC.

At the same time, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released 10 recommendations to enhance cross-border collaboration on tokenized financial activities and digital assets, ensuring transatlantic ties between U.S. and UK financial markets extend into digital finance.

In other words, policymakers are not waiting around. The trend of tokenized stocks coming onchain is not some pie-in-the-sky imagining of the future.

It’s happening. And it’s starting to expand across borders.

And as we pointed out in If You Wait, You’ll Be Late, the growth of this market is going parabolic. 12 months ago we barely had any tokenized stock sitting on public blockchains. Just about three months ago, this amount hit $1 billion. Today, 80 days later, it’s $2 billion.

So this trend is accelerating. And with the biggest IPOs coming up, it’s only going to get larger.

The future of finance is onchain. It won’t be long until we start to manage a portfolio of tokens for natively issued stock on public blockchains. There won’t be a paper certificate behind the token. The token will quite literally be the stock.

This will be a big step toward reaching 24/7 global markets, instant settlement, and the ability to use off-the-shelf technology for whatever our financing needs are.

The future is exciting, and it’s onchain.

Your Pulse on Crypto,

Ben Lilly
Editor, Chain of Thought