- SpaceX Pre-IPO Perpetual Futures are now live on Coinbase.
- The product is the first of the crypto exchange’s series of pre-IPO perps in AI, energy, and space sectors.
Coinbase, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, has launched its pre-IPO (Initial Public Offering) perpetual futures on Thursday. The first product in its lineup offers traders exposure to SpaceX, a private American aerospace company founded by Elon Musk.
Pre-IPO Perpetual Futures
Perpetual futures (perps) are derivative contracts that allow traders to speculate on an asset’s price. It has no expiration date, letting them hold on to it indefinitely. What makes them popular is their greater degree of leverage and liquidity than the spot crypto market.
Pre-IPO perpetual futures give eligible participants price exposure to private companies before they enter public listing. This way, they can speculate on a high-profile company’s future valuation without having to navigate the walled garden of private secondary markets, which were once reserved for venture capital firms, hedge funds, and high-value investors.
Coinbase is essentially offering a decentralized and democratized entry point into these markets. The crypto-native institution revealed that SpaceX is the first in its planned pipeline of pre-IPO contracts covering AI, energy, and space sectors.
“Pre-IPO perps are great to get exposure to private companies before they go public (outside the U.S. only for now) and to help with price discovery,” said Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase. “Now on Coinbase with SpaceX as our first listing.”
Pre-IPO SpaceX Perps
The new SpaceX Pre-IPO Perp offers 24/7 trading with no expiry and rollover. Like any other perps, traders can open and close it anytime. Additionally, it settles with Circle’s USDC stablecoin, with all its profits and losses realized directly in the same token.
What’s more, the product automatically transitions to SpaceX perp upon the company’s completion of its IPO. Holders of the perp don’t need to do anything to convert their holdings, preventing disruptions to their positions.
“Access to high-conviction, non-correlated exposure has never been more valuable to traders,” stated Liz Martin, head of derivatives at Coinbase. “We’ve built the most trusted platform for crypto trading — now we’re putting those same rails to work on price exposure to some of the world’s most exciting private companies, before they ever touch a public exchange. This is a new asset class, built for this era of markets.”
SpaceX positions itself for the biggest IPO of all time. According to its filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the aerospace company seeks to raise $75 billion at that stage, planning to sell around 555.6 million shares for $135 each under the ticker SPCX.
The price puts SpaceX’s market value at approximately $1.77 trillion based on its outstanding shares.
