SpaceX IPO expectations are fueling debate about their impact on cryptocurrency markets

The SpaceX IPO is not just a Wall Street event. It is reshaping where aggressive investors are putting their money right now, and Bitcoin is feeling the impact directly. The planned offering, set to raise $75 billion at a staggering valuation of $1.77 trillion, is pulling attention and capital away from crypto markets at a time when Bitcoin was already struggling.

SpaceX is not just Elon Musk’s rocket company anymore, and understanding what investors are actually buying helps explain the enormous valuation. The company operates three distinct business segments: its flagship rocket launch business, the Starlink satellite internet service, and an artificial intelligence division that includes Grok AI following its merger with xAI.

Starlink alone serves millions of customers across 164 countries using a network of roughly 9,600 satellites in low-Earth orbit, making it one of the most expansive broadband networks ever built.

The company will list on the Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX at an IPO price of $135 per share, with 555,555,555 shares being offered to the public. Although SpaceX lost nearly $2.6 billion last year, that loss came alongside revenue of approximately $18.7 billion and a doubling of research and development spending that has not yet begun generating returns.

Two massive deals announced recently add even more weight to the story: Google’s parent company Alphabet agreed to pay $920 million per month for compute capacity between October 2026 and June 2029, while Anthropic is paying SpaceX $1.25 billion per month under a separate arrangement.

Who gets to actually buy SpaceX shares at the IPO price?

Most ordinary investors will not be able to buy SpaceX at $135 per share through the actual public offering, but the company has made an unusually generous allocation toward retail investors.

Up to 30% of the IPO shares are being distributed through retail brokerage platforms, including Fidelity, Robinhood, SoFi, E*TRADE, and Charles Schwab, which is significantly larger than what most big IPOs set aside for individual buyers. Each platform will determine its own method for distributing shares fairly among its users.

That said, the total number of shares being issued represents only about 4% of the entire company, so even with the retail-friendly approach, most people who want exposure will need to buy after the stock begins trading on the open market.

Prices at that point are widely expected to be higher than the IPO price, meaning the entry point for latecomers could be considerably less attractive. Investors need to weigh whether paying a premium over the already steep $135 IPO price makes sense given the company’s current lack of profitability.

How does a rocket IPO end up hurting Bitcoin prices?

The connection between SpaceX’s stock market debut and Bitcoin’s price decline comes down to something called opportunity cost. Every dollar an investor puts into SpaceX is a dollar that is not going into Bitcoin, gold, bonds, or anything else.

When a company of SpaceX’s size and profile enters the public market, it creates a massive gravitational pull on available investment capital, particularly from the more aggressive, growth-oriented investors who also tend to be the ones most active in crypto markets.

The data backs this up clearly. Since SpaceX filed its S-1 registration with the SEC on May 20, Bitcoin has fallen over 20%. On June 5, Bitcoin dropped below $60,000 for the first time since September 2024, coinciding with a broader tech selloff that knocked the Nasdaq down 4.2% in a single session.

The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, which holds over 774,000 Bitcoins valued at roughly $49.4 billion, saw $1.32 billion in outflows in May 2026 and another $1.24 billion in outflows in the first week of June alone.

Is Bitcoin just a victim of bad timing, or is something bigger happening?

The Bitcoin selloff is partly about timing, but there is a deeper structural shift worth paying attention to. When the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF launched in January 2024, it opened Bitcoin ownership to a whole new audience of institutional investors and retirement account holders, turbocharging demand and pushing prices higher.

That same mechanism now works in reverse: when institutions want to reduce Bitcoin exposure, the ETF sells Bitcoin on the open market to return cash to shareholders, adding downward pressure on the price.

Bitcoin has also struggled to hold its identity as a safe-haven asset during this period. Gold has significantly outperformed Bitcoin over the past year, and with Bitcoin failing to serve as a reliable inflation hedge or income generator, some investors are questioning what role it actually serves in a diversified portfolio.

The fact that SpaceX holds over 18,700 Bitcoin on its own balance sheet suggests that institutional belief in the asset has not disappeared entirely, but short-term sentiment is clearly moving in the other direction right now.

Should long-term investors be worried, or is this a chance to buy?

The short-term disruption caused by the SpaceX IPO is likely temporary. History shows that even when hot new investments pull attention away from crypto, people tend to return once the initial excitement fades.

Robinhood’s most recent earnings showed a useful pattern: even though prediction markets saw explosive 320% revenue growth in the first quarter of 2026, crypto trading volumes were still active, proving that interest in digital assets does not simply disappear when something shiny comes along.

Looking further ahead, Anthropic and OpenAI are both expected to go public later in 2026, which means the competition for aggressive investor dollars is not going away anytime soon. For Bitcoin specifically, the case for owning it remains tied to its core properties: a limited supply capped at 21 million coins, independence from any government-controlled currency system, and growing institutional recognition as a store of value.

Anyone considering buying Bitcoin right now should be doing so with at least a five-year horizon and as part of a broader diversified strategy, rather than trying to time the market around IPO cycles.

TL;DR

• The SpaceX IPO is set to be the largest in history, raising $75 billion at a $1.77 trillion valuation, and investor excitement around it is pulling capital away from Bitcoin and crypto markets.
• Bitcoin has fallen more than 20% over the past month and dropped below $60,000 in early June 2026 for the first time since late 2024.
• The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF has seen over $1.24 billion in outflows in just the first week of June 2026 alone, showing how institutional money is shifting its priorities.
• SpaceX itself holds more than 18,700 Bitcoin worth over $1 billion, suggesting it is not anti-crypto, but the short-term demand vacuum it creates is real.
• With Anthropic and OpenAI also planning IPOs later this year, Bitcoin could face continued pressure from investors chasing high-profile public market debuts.

This article was made with AI assistance and human editing.

If you liked this, you might also like:

• BitMine buys another 50,000 ETH, raising total holdings above 4.47 million
• SEC and CFTC announce joint framework for crypto policy collaboration
• Why is Strategy expanding its Bitcoin holdings despite costs?