What exactly is Gate Pre-IPOs changing? Taking SPCX as an example to see the digitalization attempt of "pre-IPO assets"

What Are the Problems with the Traditional Pre-IPO Market?

In the past, investment opportunities in companies before they were listed were often concentrated among a small number of institutions and high-net-worth individuals.

The reasons aren’t complicated:

• High entry barriers
• Processes that are largely offline
• Weaker liquidity
• Opaque information

In many cases, even if ordinary users are interested in certain companies, they lack a practical path to participate.

And this is exactly where Pre-IPOs are trying to step in.

The Core Change of Gate Pre-IPOs: Platformizing “Participation Eligibility”

Structurally, the biggest change in Pre-IPOs is not the assets themselves, but the way people participate.

In the traditional model:

• Users need to go through institutional channels
• The participation process depends on manual work and review
• Investment cycles are often long

But in Gate Pre-IPOs:

• Users participate directly through the platform
• Subscriptions are completed using stablecoins
• Subsequent allocations and trading are handled in a standardized way

This means that “participation eligibility” has been platformized.

In the SPCX Case, What’s Most Worth Noticing Is Not the Subscription

Many people focus on:

• Subscription price
• Whether the valuation is high or low
• Whether they managed to get a quota

But from a mechanism perspective, what’s actually more worth paying attention to with SPCX is the subsequent structure:

• 100% unlock distribution
• Pre-market trading
• Ongoing circulation
• Follow-up settlement mechanisms

Because of these designs, it’s no longer just a simple “subscription product.”

It’s More Like a “Small Market That Appears Early”

Taking SPCX as an example, after distribution, the asset goes directly into the trading stage.

This brings a clear change:

Market behavior—traditionally only seen after an IPO—gets pulled forward to before the company is listed.

For example:

• Market sentiment starts reflecting early
• Price battles emerge among users
• Liquidity forms before listing

Pre-IPOs are essentially creating a “small price market” before a company officially goes public.

Why Pre-Market Trading Matters

One of the biggest characteristics of traditional Pre-IPO investing is the lack of liquidity.

Many investments require waiting for:

• Listing
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Long-cycle exits

But the logic shown by SPCX is different:

After the asset completes distribution, it can be traded in the market.

This means:

• Users don’t necessarily need to hold for the long term
• Liquidity management can be done in advance
• Market prices will keep changing

The early arrival of liquidity is one of the most critical changes in the entire mechanism.

Asset Certificates: The Middle Layer Connecting Traditional Companies and Digital Markets

Another feature of SPCX is that its asset form is not stocks, but Mirror Note-type asset certificates.

This means:

• Users do not directly hold company equity
• But prices will attempt to map changes in the company’s value

Therefore, it actually sits between two markets: on one side, traditional private companies; on the other, digital asset trading markets. Asset certificates are the connecting layer between the two.

Why High Volatility Is Easier to Occur

The volatility of Pre-IPOs-type products usually comes from several reasons:

• Lack of a public market anchor: the company hasn’t been listed yet, so there’s no clear reference price
• Limited liquidity in the early stage: when market depth is insufficient, prices can change rapidly
• Large expectation gaps: different users have significantly different judgments about future prospects before listing

Therefore, assets like SPCX are prone to noticeable volatility even in the pre-market phase.

What Users Are Truly Participating In Is “Future Expectations”

From a deeper perspective, what Pre-IPOs users participate in is not the company’s current profits, but:

• Expectations of future listing
• Judgments about the company’s growth path
• Predictions of future market valuation

Therefore, these products naturally carry a strong attribute of “trading expectations.”

Summary: Pre-IPOs Are More Like a Market Experiment

Through SPCX, we can see that Gate Pre-IPOs are not just “subscriptions.”

What they’re truly trying to do is:

• Digitize the pre-listing stage
• Bring liquidity forward
• Move price discovery earlier

This model may change how some users participate in unlisted assets, but it also means that:

Risks, volatility, and uncertainty are amplified in advance as well.