Crypto Exchanges Close the Gap to Wall Street as MEXC Logs $7.1 Billion in SpaceX Futures

Crypto exchange MEXC said it recorded over 7.1 billion USDT in trading volume for SpaceX perpetual futures in the weeks following the rocket company's public listing on June 12. The figure, drawn from the exchange's own second-quarter report released Tuesday, has not been independently audited.

The volume is part of what MEXC calls a "full equity stack" — users could subscribe to SpaceX before it went public, trade futures on it afterward, hold a tokenized version, and buy the actual share through the platform. MEXC ran two SPACEX(PRE) subscription rounds while SpaceX was still private, collecting over 173 million USDT from more than 74,000 entries.

RealStocks, launched on June 1, provided the last piece of the stack. The service routes orders for actual US shares and ETFs through a licensed securities broker partner, granting dividends rather than just price exposure. MEXC has not named the broker or disclosed custody arrangements. More than 120,000 users signed up in the first month, with 52% funding an account. By June 18, dividends had been settled on 34 stocks and ETFs.

Stock futures also drove activity. Micron's June earnings pushed MU futures volume on the platform up roughly 142% in a single day, with spillover into SanDisk, SK hynix and a DRAM ETF. MEXC's CEO Vugar Usi, who took over during the quarter, said the period "put real numbers behind the word gateway."

MEXC is not alone in building equity access. Binance opened access to roughly 7,000 US stocks on June 1 via broker-dealer Nest Trading, with Alpaca handling custody. Kraken's xStocks brand passed $25 billion in cumulative transaction volume and accounts for eight of the eleven largest tokenized equities. Coinbase has described plans for an "Everything Exchange" covering crypto, stocks, derivatives and event contracts.

The exchange also saw a surge in its zero-fee prediction market platform, launched in March, with average daily volume rising over 6,700% between early and late June. Meanwhile, traditional brokers are borrowing crypto mechanics: Pepperstone said Monday it would extend perpetual CFDs to metals, stock indices and energy.

However, the report omits a significant event. On June 12, MEXC cancelled tokenized SpaceX allocations and returned money to subscribers after xStocks failed to source the underlying shares. Binance, Bybit and Bitget Wallet were also affected. MEXC's Launchpad section notes SPACEX(PRE) traded 12% above subscription price at listing but makes no mention of refunds.

US retail is locked out of these products. MEXC entered July without a MiCA license in Europe and without a public update on its application. Hong Kong's securities regulator warned the exchange in 2024. MEXC reported a June reserve ratio of 156.5% across major assets, with bitcoin backed at 269%, and a futures insurance fund of $753 million — all self-reported and unverified by outside auditors.