Binance announced on 21 May 2026 the launch of Pre-IPO Perpetual Contracts, a new derivatives product that allows eligible users to trade on the expected valuations of private companies before their public market debuts. The first contract to go live on Binance Futures is SPCXUSDT, based on the anticipated public market valuation of Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX), and is margined and settled in USDT.
How the product works: The contracts function similarly to standard crypto perpetual futures, offering continuous pricing, leverage, and deep liquidity. Ahead of an IPO, the contract price is expected to reflect publicly available pricing signals, including announced price ranges and final offering prices. Once the underlying company starts trading publicly, the contract transitions to track live market performance. In the event an IPO is postponed or cancelled, Binance says it will give advance notice of delisting and settle contracts through a “transparent process”. The contract may also be converted into a standard TradFi perpetual once a stable mark price can be derived.
Shunyet Jan, Head of Spot and Derivatives Business at Binance, positioned the launch as part of the exchange’s broader push to become a financial super app. “Pre-IPO perpetual futures is another example of how Binance is democratizing access to market opportunities by combining crypto-native infrastructure with major financial events,” Jan said. Additional Pre-IPO listings are planned over time, though no names were disclosed.
Binance acknowledged that Pre-IPO Perpetual Contracts carry high market risk and price volatility, as there is no continuously traded underlying asset before a public listing. The product enters a space recently tested by the decentralized platform Trade.xyz, which launched a synthetic SpaceX contract on Hyperliquid that briefly lifted its HYPE token by around 7%. However, Binance’s centralized venue brings far greater liquidity and global reach. The real test for these instruments will be regulatory reception, especially concerning leveraged trading on non-public companies.
