Key Insights

• SpaceX reportedly holds 8,285 BTC valued at nearly $637 million.
• Analysts speculate a future IPO could value SpaceX near $2 trillion.
• Investor interest links SpaceX growth with rising corporate Bitcoin exposure.

SpaceX IPO Speculation Gains Momentum

SpaceX has returned to market focus following renewed speculation about a potential public offering in 2026. Some analysts estimate the company could achieve a valuation between $1.75 trillion and $2 trillion if it proceeds with an IPO.

The discussion intensified after reports highlighted SpaceX Bitcoin holdings totaling 8,285 BTC. At current market prices, the digital asset reserve carries an estimated value of about $637 million. The reported holdings have strengthened investor interest in the company’s financial position and broader market strategy.

If SpaceX reaches a $2 trillion valuation, it could become one of the world’s largest publicly traded companies by market capitalization. Market participants continue to monitor signs of confidential filings or regulatory steps that often appear before major IPO announcements.

Financial commentator Anthony Hughes stated that companies typically begin the IPO process through confidential filings before releasing public pricing details. He explained that pricing structures often change during the process as companies respond to investor demand and market conditions.

Bitcoin Exposure Shapes Investor Interest

The reported SpaceX Bitcoin holdings have become a major topic among crypto investors and equity traders. Market observers increasingly connect digital asset exposure with long-term company valuation, especially for firms linked to high-growth technology sectors.

SpaceX already operates across several strategic industries, including launch services, satellite internet infrastructure, and space transportation. Analysts believe its position in these sectors supports continued investor demand ahead of any future listing.

The company’s Bitcoin exposure also adds another layer to investor sentiment surrounding businesses connected to Elon Musk. His other company, Tesla, already holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet. Meanwhile, Strategy remains one of the largest corporate Bitcoin holders globally.

As a result, some investors now view crypto holdings as part of broader corporate growth narratives. This trend has become more visible among companies operating in technology-driven markets.

Potential IPO Timeline

Analysts continue to speculate that a SpaceX IPO could emerge as early as June if the company advances regulatory preparations. However, SpaceX has not officially confirmed any public listing plans or valuation targets.

Hughes explained that companies often introduce lockup structures to stabilize trading activity after public listings. He added that valuation estimates frequently shift during the IPO process as institutional demand develops.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin traded near $77,482 at press time after recording a 0.95% daily gain. The market movement added further attention to SpaceX Bitcoin holdings and their potential influence on future investor sentiment.

As speculation continues, investors remain focused on how a SpaceX listing could reshape the relationship between technology companies, digital assets, and public equity markets.

A petition to scrap a 22% tax on crypto investment gains in South Korea reached the 50,000-signature threshold required for the country’s Finance and Economic Planning Committee to review objections to the new tax regime.

The 22% tax, set to take effect in January 2027, imposes financial and reporting “burdens” on investors, while also limiting upward mobility for younger individuals, who are locked out of housing markets due to skyrocketing real estate prices, according to the petition.

The petition now has more than 52,000 signatures. Source: South Korea Assembly

The petition also said that taxing crypto gains at 22%, while giving other asset classes preferential tax treatment, undermines South Korea’s share of the crypto market. In a translated statement, the authors of the petition wrote:

“If taxation is enforced in order to secure short-term tax revenues, it is likely to lead to greater losses in the long term, namely, a contraction of industry and an outflow of capital and talent abroad.”

South Korea is a key crypto hub in the Asia-Pacific region, and in March 2025, about 32% of the country’s population owned cryptocurrencies, according to local news agency Yonhap. However, ownership has declined so far this year as crypto prices remain under pressure.

Related: South Korea plans July rules for tokenized securities

South Korea’s crypto market contracts as tighter controls are proposed

The total value of crypto held by South Koreans declined from about 121.8 trillion won ($83.3 billion) in January 2025 to about 60.6 trillion won ($41.4 billion) in February 2026, according to industry data.

Daily trading volumes on the five largest crypto exchanges in the country, which include Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax,  also fell from $11.6 billion in December 2024 to just $3 billion in February.

Daily trading volume for South Korea’s largest crypto exchanges. Source: CoinGecko

Tighter Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations and Know Your Customer controls in South Korea are also driving investors away from the sector, critics of the policies say. 

In March, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) proposed that all crypto transactions above 10 million won ($6,630) sent to or from foreign crypto wallets should be automatically flagged as suspicious.

Crypto industry advocacy organizations in the country have pushed back against the new rules, arguing that the reporting requirements would create an operational burden for exchanges.

Magazine: South Korea gets rich from crypto… North Korea gets weapons

TLDR

• Michael Saylor said Bitcoin will outperform the S&P 500 over time.
• He made the statement during a Thursday appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box.
• Saylor said Strategy expects Bitcoin to deliver about 30% annual returns.
• He linked that forecast to his $13 million Bitcoin price target for 2045.
• Saylor said institutional adoption and fixed supply support his long-term Bitcoin thesis.

Michael Saylor said Bitcoin will outperform the S&P 500 over time during a Thursday appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box. He said Strategy expects Bitcoin to deliver annual returns of about 30%, above the index’s long-term average. Saylor also repeated his $13 million Bitcoin price target for 2045 and said $60,000 marked the asset’s bottom.

Bitcoin Outlook Tops Michael Saylor’s Market Case

Saylor told CNBC that Bitcoin will “go up” more than the S&P 500 over time. He said Strategy expects annual returns near 30%.

He compared that view with the S&P 500’s long-term annualized return of about 10%. The index tracks 500 large public companies in the United States.

So far this year, the S&P 500 has gained 8%, based on Google Finance data. Bitcoin has fallen 12% over the same period.

Saylor said Strategy’s forecast supports his long-term Bitcoin thesis. He said the company expects the asset to outperform traditional benchmarks over time.

He also linked that outlook to his $13 million price target for 2045. Saylor said Bitcoin could average about 29% annual returns over the next 19 years.

According to Saylor, institutional adoption supports that case. He also pointed to government treasury strategies and Bitcoin’s fixed supply.

Saylor has repeated this view before. Earlier this year, he said Bitcoin could double or triple the S&P 500’s performance over four to eight years.

Regulation and Market Support Stay in Focus

During the same interview, Saylor said Bitcoin would rally from current levels. He said $60,000 served as the asset’s bottom.

He described the market as entering a “spring phase.” He said Bitcoin had support near current levels and a favorable macro backdrop.

Saylor also pointed to regulatory developments in the United States. He said progress on the CLARITY Act could help the crypto sector.

He referred to the bill’s passage through the Senate Banking Committee last week. He said the measure advanced with bipartisan support after months of delays.

Saylor also mentioned expected guidance from the US Securities and Exchange Commission. He said the agency could introduce innovation exemptions for tokenized securities.

He said those exemptions could support securities tokenization on crypto networks. That process could expand blockchain activity across financial markets.

The latest update from Saylor’s remarks was his view on support levels. He said Bitcoin’s floor stood at $60,000 during Thursday’s CNBC interview.

Everclear’s announcement of a full operational wind-down sent CLEAR sharply lower in the latest session.

Everclear, the cross chain clearing and settlement network backed by firms including Pantera Capital and Polychain, said it is winding down all operations after failing to build a sustainable business model.

In a stunning announcement posted to X, the team confirmed that the protocol has already been sunsetted and no funds remain locked.

The token is currently trading at $0.0002332, down over 48% in 24 hours.

Why did Everclear shut down its protocol?

“The protocol has been sunsetted,” Everclear stated. “To our knowledge, no funds are stuck any remaining TVL was withdrawn by users and partners.”

The project, originally launched in 2017 as Connext with early support from the Ethereum Foundation, aimed to solve liquidity fragmentation across blockchains. It later rebranded to Everclear and launched its mainnet in April 2025, positioning itself as infrastructure for cross chain settlement.

Despite technical execution, the team acknowledged that demand did not translate into revenue. “Despite reaching $500M in monthly volume, the cross chain solvers segment never developed the commercial depth we needed,” the team wrote. Users, it said, were highly price sensitive, limiting monetization.

The shutdown affects not only the protocol but also the Everclear Foundation and its research arm, effectively ending all development efforts tied to the ecosystem.

What happens to CLEAR token and remaining funds?

The immediate market reaction was severe. CLEAR dropped more than 48% to $0.0002332, according to CoinGecko data, wiping out most of its remaining market value in a single session.

Everclear said it plans to use remaining treasury funds to settle liabilities. The team also floated a potential token buyback, though it emphasized uncertainty around execution. The estimated size of any buyback ranges between $50000 and $200000, a relatively small figure compared to historical funding rounds.

The project had raised capital from major crypto investors and built integrations with industry partners. However, Everclear admitted it misjudged timelines for those partnerships to go live, which ultimately strained its financial runway.

“Several significant names signed on, but we underestimated how long it would take those partners to go live and our runway ran out before they did,” the team said.

There remains a possibility, however, that the technology could survive in another form. Everclear is exploring open sourcing its codebase, according to those familiar with the matter, allowing its DAO or external developers to continue development under new leadership. The intellectual property is currently held by the Everclear Foundation.

The collapse adds to a growing list of infrastructure projects struggling to convert usage into revenue, even as networks like Ethereum (ETH) continue to dominate settlement activity. It also highlights ongoing challenges in cross chain design, an area often positioned as critical to the broader crypto ecosystem alongside assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and scaling discussions tied to Layer 2 ecosystem growth.

The crypto market showed signs of a cautious recovery on Thursday, with bitcoin BTC$77,559.66 trading at $77,900, up from Tuesday’s low of $76,100, and ether (ETH) at $2,130 after adding just 0.1% since midnight UTC.

The altcoin sector remains mixed. While Hyperliquid (HYPE) rose for a fifth straight day, adding 6.5% to notch a 53% gain over the past week, privacy coins gave back a portion of Wednesday’s gains.

U.S. equities snapped a three-day losing streak on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 index 1.5% higher as investors anticipated a strong earnings report from Nvidia (NVDA), which beat forecasts with record quarterly revenues of $81.62 billion.

Oil prices dipped as U.S. President Donald Trump said a peace deal with Iran was in its “final stages,” providing a boost to risk assets.

Derivatives positioning

• Crypto futures volume increased 15% to $165.7 billion, open interest rose nearly 1% to $128 billion and liquidations jumped 72% to $266 million, ending a two-day streak of declining activity.
• Hyperliquid’s HYPE token led the top 100 coins with open interest reaching the highest level since Feb. 19. Coupled with positive cumulative volume delta (CVD) and slightly positive funding, the increase suggests aggressive market-order buyers, not passive limit order buyers, are in control without yet showing signs of overheating.
• A similar bullish trend was evident in privacy coin zcash (ZEC), which has dominated daily open interest rankings throughout the week.
• DASH futures are also heating up. Open interest jumped 38% to 1.98 million tokens, but the “boom-bust” price rejection at $54, alongside negative CVD, suggests sellers are aggressively fading rallies with market orders.
• Negative CVDs in other assets like XMR, SUI, TON, HBAR, M, BNB and CC further indicate that sellers are being aggressive with market orders rather than trading passively via limit orders.
• Bitcoin’s futures market remains stagnant with open interest trapped in the 720K-750K BTC range for a seventh day. The lack of momentum is mirrored in the ether (ETH) market.
• Ether’s 30-day implied volatility dropped to a 2026 low of 53%, breaking through floor levels established in late 2024, while bitcoin’s BVIV held steady near 40%, suggesting broad calm amid macro risks.
• In the options market, a large block trade involved the sale of an XRP short straddle, representing a high-conviction bet on the token’s spot price remaining range-bound around $1.40 through late June.
• For both BTC and ETH, the strangle has emerged as the most favored options strategy on Deribit over the past 24 hours, suggesting traders are positioning for a breakout from the current low-volatility regime.

Token talk

• HYPE is justifiably receiving plaudits this week, with a gain of more than than 20% in the past 24 hours as daily trading volume has jumped 135% to $1.3 billion.
• The CoinDesk Memecoin Select Index (CDMEME) fell 0.2% on Thursday and 0.9% over 24 hours. All the other CoinDesk benchmarks are higher over a 24-hour period, while the CoinDesk Computing Select Index (CPUS) outperformed its peers.
• A crypto analyst pseudonamed “skew” described the altcoin market as being in a “make or break” position this week, alluding to the total crypto market cap excluding bitcoin, which has posted a series of higher highs and higher lows since February.
• Speculation is ramping up again across several altcoin trading pairs, including doublezero (2Z), which has seen trading volume surge by more than 410%, leading to a 17% rise in the token over the past 24 hours.