Bybit’s attempt to bring the SpaceX IPO to crypto-native investors hit a wall. The exchange confirmed that users who subscribed to tokenized SpaceX shares through its IPO Express service will not receive any allocations and will instead get full refunds on their locked funds.

What happened with IPO Express

Bybit launched its IPO Express service on June 7, offering eligible users the ability to subscribe to tokenized representations of SpaceX shares, ticker SPCX, through the xStocks platform operated by Payward Services. The subscription window ran through June 11, with pro-rata allocations scheduled for June 11-12 and spot trading set to begin on June 12, coinciding with SpaceX’s anticipated Nasdaq listing.

Users could subscribe with as little as $100 USDC. Funds were locked during the subscription period while final allocation confirmations from underwriters were pending. The tokenized shares were designed to provide 1:1 backed exposure to the underlying SpaceX stock, priced at an indicative $135 per share.

Then came the allocation results: zero shares for subscribers. Everyone gets their money back, nothing more.

SpaceX was targeting a raise of around $75 billion at an estimated valuation of $1.75 trillion. That kind of deal attracts institutional heavyweights who tend to absorb the lion’s share of available allocations, leaving retail-focused channels with scraps, or in this case, nothing at all.

The bigger picture for tokenized IPO access

Bybit’s IPO Express wasn’t built in a vacuum. It sits alongside similar initiatives by Kraken, as crypto exchanges increasingly try to position themselves as alternatives to traditional brokerages for accessing equity markets. The pitch is compelling: let crypto users participate in major stock listings without needing a conventional brokerage account, using stablecoins instead of fiat, with blockchain-based settlement.

What this means for investors

For users who locked up USDC expecting to land even a small allocation, the result is disappointing but not financially damaging. No one lost money. They just didn’t make any.

Investors considering these platforms going forward should pay close attention to the allocation mechanics disclosed before subscribing. Pro-rata distribution sounds fair in theory, but when the denominator is enormous and the numerator is tiny, fair math still produces zero.