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SpaceX went public with all the fanfare of a Falcon Heavy launch. The landing, though, has been considerably less graceful.
Shares of Elon Musk’s space exploration company have plunged roughly 40% from their June high, falling to around $81 and breaking well below the $135 IPO price that made the offering the largest in history. For investors who bought in at the peak near $225, the math is brutal: nearly two-thirds of that value has evaporated in a matter of weeks.
From record-breaking IPO to free fall
SpaceX priced its IPO at $135 per share on June 11, 2026, raising a staggering $86 billion. To put that number in perspective, the previous record holder for largest IPO, Saudi Aramco’s 2019 listing, raised $25.6 billion.
The initial euphoria was real. Shares rocketed to approximately $225 in mid-June, briefly pushing the company’s market capitalization north of $2 trillion.
Pre-IPO tender offers had valued SpaceX at around $800 billion by late 2025, which means even private market investors who helped set those valuations are now watching the public market disagree with their assessments.
The Bitcoin angle
SpaceX holds approximately 18,712 BTC, acquired at a cost basis of roughly $661 million. At various points, that stash has been worth north of $1 billion, making SpaceX one of the larger corporate Bitcoin holders alongside MicroStrategy and Tesla.
The interplay between SpaceX’s stock decline and its Bitcoin position also creates a feedback loop worth monitoring. If the company were to sell a meaningful portion of its 18,712 BTC, that volume hitting the market could pressure Bitcoin prices. Conversely, a rising Bitcoin price could provide SpaceX with a financial cushion that makes the stock decline more manageable.
What history tells us, and what it doesn’t
Post-IPO declines of this magnitude are not unprecedented. Facebook famously cratered below its $38 IPO price in 2012 before staging one of the great comeback stories in market history. Uber dropped below its $45 IPO price within weeks of listing in 2019.
For SpaceX, the bull case remains formidable. The company dominates commercial launch services, operates the Starlink satellite internet constellation, and is developing Starship for deep-space missions.
Macroeconomic headwinds are compounding the problem. Rising interest rates and tightening financial conditions tend to punish high-growth stocks disproportionately, as the discounted value of future earnings shrinks when rates climb.
What crypto investors should watch
For the crypto-native crowd, there are several threads worth tracking here.
First, SpaceX’s Bitcoin treasury decisions over the next quarter will be revealing. Any significant selling would likely show up on-chain before it shows up in earnings reports, and any movement of that 18,712 BTC stash could become a market-moving event in its own right.
Second, Musk’s history with Dogecoin, which he has previously linked to various SpaceX initiatives, means that any public commentary from him about crypto could amplify volatility in both directions.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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