Original author:137 Labs

Just today (February 28, 2026), the decentralized RWA trading platform MaiTong MSX officially announced a strategic partnership with the U.S. compliance asset tokenization platform Republic, preparing to launch the Pre-IPO section. This news quickly went viral in the crypto circle, giving countless ordinary investors the opportunity to participate in top unicorns like SpaceX and ByteDance.

This article will break down the core logic and operational mechanism of MSX as a new play, analyzing its value points from different perspectives of retail and institutional investors, particularly the highlights of its liquidity design. It will also discuss key dimensions such as asset quality and valuation rationality, and finally review the current status and trends of the entire on-chain Pre-IPO track.

Core Logic: Breaking Down the High Walls of Pre-IPO with Tokenization

The Pre-IPO market is enormous; by 2025, the global unicorn valuation is expected to approach 39 trillion RMB, with an annual growth of over 30%. Over the past 25 years, private equity returns have consistently exceeded public market returns by more than three times, with true alpha often occurring prior to an IPO. However, this market has an extremely high entry threshold: investments starting from millions of dollars, with lock-up periods of 5-10 years, and secondary markets often inflated to bubble prices.

MSX's approach is simple yet robust: through blockchain tokenization, real equity is fragmented and put on-chain, allowing eligible users to participate at a low entry threshold. Partner Republic offers an SEC-compliant channel, with assets held by regulated third-party custodians (such as BitGo Trust Company), ensuring that tokens correspond 1:1 to real shares, similar to Robinhood's brokerage services.

The initial allocation exceeds 10 million USD, covering over ten top unicorns (including SpaceX and ByteDance), with specific targets and allocation details announced when launched. Users can capture real growth earlier, rather than waiting to buy high after the IPO.

Taking SpaceX as an example: its valuation soared from $180 billion in 2024 to $1.25 trillion by early 2026, achieving six times in two years; the private equity price has risen from $56 per share in 2021 to $527 per share now, a ninefold increase in just over four years. This shares similarities with past DeFi projects like Beta Finance on BSC (both pursuing high frequency and high volatility), but MSX leans more towards capturing long-term value in compliance. If it can further split into more granular on-chain transactions or derivatives in the future, the potential will be even greater. However, it is still subject to regulatory constraints, and liquidity will not be as free as pure DeFi.

Viewing Value from Different Investor Perspectives

• Retail investors: Traditional Pre-IPO investments are generally unaffordable; funds are locked with no clear path to exit. MSX lowers the barrier well below the million-dollar level, allowing entry during reasonable valuation stages and avoiding secondary market bubbles. Mature unicorns like SpaceX present relatively controllable risks with potential returns easily multiplying. Tokenization also offers more flexible exit paths, greatly improving the experience.

• Institutions/high net worth individuals: They can break through closed circles, expand their asset allocation range, while maintaining compliance. The fragmented design facilitates the management of large assets, but some may worry about platform liquidity and regulatory uncertainty.

• Ordinary users: Essentially, this is about investment equality. In the past, only a few could share in the growth of ByteDance and SpaceX. Now, through MSX, they have the opportunity to participate, reflecting the same logic as Robinhood's European version of tokenized unicorns from a global perspective.

Liquidity Design: The Biggest Pain Point of Pre-IPO is Partially Addressed

Traditional private equity has very poor liquidity, and the biggest highlight of MSX is the introduction of a short-term redemption mechanism (for specific assets) and optimized exit paths, providing significantly better liquidity than traditional models. While it may not yet achieve 24/7 free trading, it is already a qualitative leap for Pre-IPO investments. The actual effect will need to be observed after the launch.

Overview of Other Key Points

• Compliance and security: Relying on SEC regulation + professional custody avoids the risks of scam coins, but sacrifices some decentralization.

• Asset quality: Focuses on mature late-stage unicorns (SpaceX’s business is advanced with stable valuation growth; ByteDance has strong cash flow), avoiding high-risk early-stage projects, overall high quality.

• Valuation rationality: Purchasing in the Pre-IPO stage can avoid the IPO bubble and provide genuine alpha. However, macroeconomic factors and the pace of IPOs still affect valuations.

• Risks: Fluctuations in unicorn performance, IPO delays, valuation adjustments, and regulatory changes.

• Expansion potential: Aligns with the major trend of RWA (Blackrock's BUIDL fund AUM has exceeded $2.9 billion, with the entire industry exceeding $24 billion). If integrated with DEX or derivatives, liquidity would further explode.

Full Picture of the On-Chain Pre-IPO Track: The Walls are Beginning to Crumble

From Robinhood’s trial of tokenizing unicorns (OpenAI, SpaceX) in Europe in 2025, to Republic’s structured compliance issuance, and then to MSX integrating Pre-IPO into the tokenized landscape, this track is maturing rapidly. Currently, mainstream forms largely adopt SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) + token structures, addressing the liquidity pain points of traditional 7-10 year exits.

Typical projects include:

1. PreStocks (based on Solana): Tokenizing SpaceX, OpenAI, etc., supporting no minimum investment, 24/7 trading, covering over 50 companies by 2025, leaning towards greater decentralization.

2. ADDX (Singapore): Digital securities exchange, tokenizing Pre-IPO equity + hedge funds, regulated secondary trading, wider asset classes.

3. Securitize (registered with U.S. SEC): Issuing compliant and secure tokens, supporting on-chain voting, dividends, and ATS trading, serving as inspiration for MSX.

4. Backed Finance (xStocks, Switzerland): 1:1 backed stocks/ETFs, transferable after KYC to DEX, retail-friendly.

5. Robinhood Stock Tokens (2025 Europe version): Unicorn tokens based on Arbitrum, 24/7 global trading, directly competitive.

6. Jarsy/Ventuuals: Experimental types, the former wraps equity in SPVs, while the latter includes perpetual futures, fragmented down to $0.01, more flexible but higher risk.

7. Tokeny (Europe): Institutional-level private equity/funds tokenization, regulatory compliant.

8. BlackRock BUIDL and others: On-chain funds (private credit), AUM exceeding $2.9 billion, though not purely equity, showcasing RWA scale.

The overall trend is moving from experimentation to mainstream, with a clear tilt toward retail. However, challenges remain: SEC/DLT regulation, custody requirements, access for non-qualified investors, etc. If MSX can integrate DEX liquidity or derivatives layers, it will further amplify the vitality of the sector.

The high walls of Pre-IPO are gradually being dismantled through the dual engines of tokenization and compliance. This step taken by MSX may be one of the most noteworthy landing events in RWA for 2026.