Investors can 'buy' SpaceX early with Coinbase perpetual futures on pre-IPOs

Key points

• The Coinbase logo is displayed on a smartphone with stock market percentages on the background.
• Coinbase on Thursday unveiled a new product that lets customers get price exposure to private companies before they go public, starting with a perpetual futures contract –better known as a "perp" – tied to SpaceX.
• Pre-IPO perps give traders the ability to speculate on the value of a private company without owning shares.
• Coinbase's first offering is the SpaceX Pre-IPO Perp, a derivative settled in the USDC stablecoin that tracks the private-market valuation of Elon Musk's space company.
• The product is only available to traders outside the U.S. The unveil comes amid growing demand by retail investors for exposure to high-profile private companies before they reach public markets – an opportunity historically reserved for venture capital firms, private equity funds and accredited investors – at a time when companies are staying private for longer.