Wall Street Embraces Crypto as SpaceX Readies $1.7T IPO
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- Kraken co-CEO David Ripley told Axios that "nearly all traditional financial services companies are gonna offer crypto, bitcoin, ethereum to their customers," calling the shift "a big story of 2026."
- Ripley predicted tokenized public equities will be the next major blockchain frontier, following stablecoins' proof that investors will hold blockchain-based versions of traditional assets.
- Nasdaq CFO Sarah Youngwood said U.S. markets are deep enough to absorb a coming wave of trillion-dollar IPOs — naming SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic as firms lining up to go public — without rewriting existing rules.
- SpaceX is expected to debut on Nasdaq later this week, aiming to raise about $75 billion at a $1.7 trillion valuation, which would make it the largest IPO ever.
- Kraken recently announced plans to offer tokenized IPO shares to retail investors, with Ripley noting ordinary investors have been "entirely locked out" of many of the biggest wealth-creating companies until late in their growth cycles.
- Nasdaq is pursuing extended-hours trading while crypto markets already operate 24/7, with both executives describing a future of markets that are more global, more digital, and increasingly always-on.
Why it matters: The Wall Street–crypto rivalry is effectively over, with banks and brokerages now treating digital assets as a revenue line rather than a threat. The scale signal is stark: SpaceX's projected $1.7 trillion IPO and the queue of trillion-dollar listings (OpenAI, Anthropic) show public markets entering a new size category, while tokenized shares and 24/7 trading push retail investors closer to access once reserved for institutions and the wealthy.
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