Chinese investors turn to digital bets for exposure to US tech IPOs

Locked out of SpaceX and OpenAI offerings by export controls, mainland investors are flocking to crypto derivatives as a workaround.

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Add us on Google by Editorial Team Jun. 10, 2026

When the world’s most anticipated tech IPO tells an entire country’s investors they can’t participate, those investors tend to get creative. That’s exactly what’s happening as Chinese and Hong Kong-based investors, barred from SpaceX’s upcoming public offering, are turning to perpetual futures and synthetic derivatives on crypto exchanges to get a piece of the action.

SpaceX’s IPO, targeting a valuation of roughly $1.78 trillion and set for May 2026, explicitly excludes investors from mainland China and Hong Kong. The reason: US export control regulations. Underwriters have been instructed to reject orders from those regions entirely.

The crypto workaround

In mid-May 2026, decentralized exchange Hyperliquid launched pre-IPO perpetual futures contracts for SpaceX under the ticker SPCX. These contracts reference an implied valuation north of $1.78 trillion and trade around the clock, seven days a week. No underwriter approval required.

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OKX followed suit on May 6, 2026, announcing perpetual futures for implied valuations of OpenAI, SpaceX, and Anthropic. Bitget has also joined the party.

Hyperliquid’s SPCX contract has already demonstrated significant volatility. One flash crash saw prices plunge from approximately $2,277 to $1,254. Hyperliquid’s native token, HYPE, increased in value amidst the launch of pre-IPO products and the surge in trading volume in May 2026.

Why Chinese investors are going this route

Chinese investors have historically relied on US listings as the primary exit ramp for tech venture bets. That playbook is now broken from both directions. On the American side, export control laws are drawing harder lines around which investors can access certain offerings, particularly companies with defense or dual-use technology ties like SpaceX. On the Chinese side, Beijing has issued warnings against overseas sales and tightened capital controls, making traditional cross-border investment channels increasingly uncomfortable to navigate.

Crypto derivatives exist in the gap between those two walls. They don’t require brokerage accounts subject to US jurisdiction. They don’t trigger the same capital outflow flags that wire transfers to American exchanges might. And they’re accessible to anyone with a wallet and an internet connection.

What this means for investors

The regulatory scrutiny risk here is real and probably imminent. US authorities have shown little patience for instruments that allow sanctioned or restricted parties to gain synthetic exposure to assets they’ve been deliberately excluded from. The entire point of export controls is to prevent certain parties from benefiting economically from specific technologies. Pre-IPO perps on SpaceX, offered to the exact investor base that was excluded, challenge that framework directly.

For crypto platforms, this is a double-edged sword. Hyperliquid, OKX, and Bitget are all competing for flow, and pre-IPO products are proving to be a meaningful draw. But hosting instruments designed to circumvent geopolitical restrictions is the kind of thing that gets enforcement letters written about you.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.