JPMorgan & Citadel Load Up On Solana, The Pre-IPO SpaceX Trade & More

Welcome back!

This is J264G and this week I’ve got these titbits for you:

• Onchain Expansion: Citi is expanding its activities onto public blockchains.

• Banker's Bluff: Everyone is piling into SpaceX before it even IPOs.

• Solana ETFs: Citadel and JPMorgan Chase load up on BSOL.

The Fed pegs U.S. crypto adoption at 10%. With bluechips like BTC, ETH, and SOL quietly landing in mainstream portfolios via ETFs, stablecoin going mainstream, and Wall Street tokenizing everything that isn't nailed down, that figure is going to at least double inside 18 months.

Now, let’s jump right into this week’s newsletter!

Click on any underlined heading/hyperlink to learn more.

Spotlight

Banker's Bluff

SpaceX is poised to be the largest listing in history, yet the most accurate price signal is likely to emerge not from a banker's spreadsheet but from a decentralised orderbook that already out-forecasted the Nasdaq on Cerebras.

That is awkward for banking, an industry that has spent a century insisting price discovery is a service only it can perform. The traditional IPO is a marvel of choreographed scarcity: an anointed syndicate, a curated roadshow, an allocation list that begins with sovereign wealth funds and ends well before the average investor sees a ticker. The “pop” so beloved of financial television is, more often than not, the visible residue of mispricing; capital left on the table by the issuer, harvested by clients of the underwriter.

Perpetual futures invert the arrangement. A decentralised orderbook does not care about league tables or relationship banking. It aggregates the views of anyone willing to post collateral, and it does so continuously, in public, around the clock. Cerebras (CBRS) pre-IPO perpetual futures traded between $288 and $320 for two solid weeks before the chipmaker hit the Nasdaq. Opening print: $385. First-day close: $311. The onchain market called it. The bankers, predictably, did not.

Now pre-IPO perpetual futures for SpaceX (SPCX) have landed on Phantom, giving anyone a live, contestable number, set by capital rather than rumour.

Within two years, the pre-IPO perpetual futures price will be as standard a reference as the grey market once was for Hong Kong listings, and probably more accurate. 

Consequently, early adopters will treat the onchain pre-IPO price as a benchmark to beat; those that do not will keep mispricing the future and dress the gap up as a win. SpaceX will be the first listing of a scale that forces everyone to watch and decide which side, TradFi or crypto, sets the fairer price.

Chart Of The Week

News Bites

Prediction Markets: Virtu Financial has begun pricing and trading event contracts on exchanges including Kalshi and CME. The move marks one of the most significant institutional endorsements of the nascent event-contract sector to date.

Broker Access: Speaking of prediction markets, Interactive Brokers is launching a platform that will enable users to trade prediction markets through Kalshi, CME, and its own ForecastEx venue. The offering will centre on event contracts tied to elections, climate, and the economy, deliberately steering clear of sports markets. 

Solana ETFs: According to its latest 13F filing, Citadel increased its exposure to Solana through Bitwise's Solana Staking ETF (BSOL), boosting its position to approximately $23.6 million in the first quarter of 2026. JPMorgan Chase also disclosed an initial stake in BSOL in its Q1 13F filing, acquiring 47,460 shares worth roughly $523,000; marking the bank's first reported exposure to Solana.

Tokenised Stocks: The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to release its so-called innovation exemption for tokenised stocks as soon as this week. The move would enable tokenised i.e. blockchain-based versions of publicly shares to be freely and legally traded, reshaping the landscape of the U.S. stock market.

Onchain Expansion: Along the same lines, Citi is telling investors it is expanding its activities onto public blockchains, with an initial focus on tokenisation and stablecoins. As such, the bank joins a growing cohort of major financial institutions formalising their onchain ambitions.

Privacy Blockchain: Seismic, a privacy-focused blockchain, has launched its testnet. The EVM-compatible network was developed alongside fintech start-ups, regulated institutions, and local governments.

Caught In 4K

Weekly Take

Keks & Giggles

And that's a wrap!

You can reach me anytime over on 𝕏 or drop me a line. 

Talk soon!

J264G

_{DISCLAIMER
None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research. Lastly, please be advised that we discuss products and services from our partners from which our team members may hold tokens/equity.}