Coinbase has moved into pre-IPO trading, launching its first product with a perpetual futures contract tied to SpaceX, giving users outside the United States a way to gain exposure to private companies before they go public.
The product is a USDC-settled perpetual futures contract that tracks SpaceX’s pre-IPO valuation. It operates around the clock with no expiry or rollover date, and positions can be opened and closed at any time, in line with how existing perpetual futures work on the platform. All profits and losses settle in USDC.
How the product works
Coinbase said the contract is designed to mirror SpaceX’s estimated pre-listing price. If and when SpaceX completes a public listing, open positions will automatically convert into a post-IPO perpetual futures contract referencing the public stock price, creating a seamless transition for holders.
The offering is not available to US-based users at launch, with Coinbase rolling it out to eligible users in supported international jurisdictions. The company has not yet specified which regions are included.
SpaceX was selected as the first listing based on what Coinbase described as strong global demand for exposure to Elon Musk’s space and satellite business. Private market and institutional estimates have placed SpaceX’s valuation as high as $1.75 trillion, depending on methodology and secondary market pricing, making it one of the most closely watched private companies in the world.
Racing to tokenise private markets
The Coinbase launch is part of an accelerating push by major crypto exchanges to bring private market assets into derivative or tokenised form.
Kraken’s parent company, Payward, announced a comparable product on the same day, offering tokenised access to pre-IPO companies. Binance introduced derivative products linked to high-profile private firms, including SpaceX, in May. Bitget launched its IPO Prime platform in April, also starting with a SpaceX-linked product.
The broader trend is reflected in real-world asset market data. Research from Bernstein, published in late May, estimated the total RWA market has grown to $51 billion, up 42% in 2026 alone, as demand grows for fractional exposure to traditionally illiquid private assets.
A separate Bitget report from the same period found that tokenised stocks remain a small fraction of the RWA market overall, with most trading activity concentrated in a handful of large-cap names such as Tesla, Alphabet, and Microsoft on offshore platforms.
Access for retail, without the barriers
Coinbase framed the product as a step toward democratising private market access, historically limited to venture capital firms and institutional investors. By packaging exposure as a perpetual futures contract settled in USDC, the exchange allows retail traders in eligible markets to participate in pre-IPO price discovery without holding actual equity or navigating private placement rules.
Coinbase did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
