I thought I bought SpaceX stock... Coin Bureau warns of 'trap' in tokenized private equity

▲ SpaceX, Stock, Tokenization/AI Generated Image

Unlisted giants like SpaceX and OpenAI have emerged as on-chain investment products for individual investors, but a warning has been issued that what investors are actually buying is not stock but a high-risk structure closer to price exposure.

In a video uploaded on May 31 (local time), the cryptocurrency-specialized YouTube channel Coin Bureau explained that the tokenized private equity market is providing individual investors with access to assets like SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Stripe, which were previously only available to venture capitalists and accredited investors. The video stated that the global private market size ranges from $13 trillion to $16.5 trillion, with Preqin forecasting growth to $32 trillion by 2030. In contrast, the number of listed companies in the US has decreased from approximately 6,900 in 2000 to 3,952 at the end of 2024, solidifying a structure where high-growth company valuations remain outside the public market.

Coin Bureau divided the tokenized private equity market into Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)-based models and synthetic models. Tessera, Backed Finance, Jarzy, Swarm, and Securitize operate on a structure where an SPV purchases actual private equity from secondary markets like Forge Global and EquityZen, and then issues tokens representing those economic rights. In contrast, Republic mirror tokens, Bitget pre-IPO Prime products, Hyperliquid pre-IPO Perp, and Robinhood EU are closer to contractual payment promises that track prices without holding actual shares. The video emphasized the difference between the two structures with the phrase “exposure is not ownership.”

The SpaceX token case illustrates the illusion of this market. Tessera's Solana (SOL)-based SpaceX token is issued upon depositing USDC after KYC, and its price is delivered on-chain via a Chainlink Proof-of-Reserve oracle. However, the rights an investor obtains are not SpaceX shares but rather participation rights in a loan to a Cayman Islands segregated portfolio company. Republic's RSPAX can be accessed from $50 but is not a self-custodial structure, and its price was fixed at a valuation of $400 billion at its launch in June 2025. If SpaceX goes public in the future at $1.75 trillion, investors can receive cash settlement, but it is not a structure where actual shares are received.

The biggest risk is a liquidity trap. Private equity does not have real-time market prices, and secondary market transaction prices from weeks or months ago may serve as a reference. Coin Bureau explained that when OpenAI and Anthropic warned on May 13 that unauthorized equity transfers and tokenized products were invalid, Solana-based Freestock tokens plummeted by 38% to 46% within 24 hours. At that time, the Anthropic-related liquidity pool contained only $333,000 in stablecoins and $18,000 worth of Solana. The video commented, "Marketing called it democratized access, but the reality was a trap door." Investors do not possess voting rights, dividend rights, anti-dilution rights, or access to audited financial statements, nor are their names listed on the company's shareholder register.

Regulatory risk was also presented as a key variable in the market. In a joint statement in January, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stated that tokenization does not change the nature of a security, and Chairman Paul Atkins proposed the ACT framework and innovation exceptions. However, Coin Bureau believes that there is no loophole for private equity tokens to escape regulation, as the proposed US cryptocurrency market structure bill divides jurisdiction between the CFTC for digital commodities and the SEC for tokenized securities. The video analyzed that even if only 1% of the $13 trillion private market were tokenized, a $130 billion market could open up, representing a 100-fold growth potential compared to the current $1 billion scale. It also pointed out that a SpaceX IPO would be the first major settlement test. Coin Bureau's conclusion is that current products should be viewed not as stock certificates but as high-risk price exposure products for illiquid assets, and investors must verify premiums and discounts that diverge 20% to 30% or more from known company valuations, as well as reference prices, maturity conditions, and settlement structures.

*Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only, and we are not responsible for any investment losses based on it. The content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.*