SpaceX surges wildly then crashes! Nobel economist harshly mocks: it's basically a meme stock, heading down like Bitcoin

SpaceX's market value soars to $2.75 trillion, Nobel laureate economist Krugman issues a stern warning, questioning whether its sky-high valuation is solely based on blind faith in Musk, outright calling the company essentially a hype-driven giant meme stock.

• Crypto City Note: The original publication date of this article is June 19. As of June 24, SpaceX's market value has fallen from its peak of $2.75 trillion to $2.05 trillion.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. SpaceX recently completed the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history, with its stock price climbing and the company's market value soaring to $2.75 trillion. In response, 2008 Nobel laureate economist Krugman recently posted a warning about SpaceX's astonishing valuation, even calling this space giant a "meme stock."

Krugman questioned in a blog post on June 17 that, despite SpaceX earning $18.7 billion in revenue last year but losing $4.9 billion, it starkly contrasts with profitable tech giants like Microsoft. Yet, SpaceX's market cap hit $2.75 trillion on June 17, nearly matching Bitcoin's $2.5 trillion market value at its October 2025 peak of $126,080.

Krugman believes that investors' willingness to assign such a crazy valuation is entirely due to blind faith in Musk, treating him almost like a "magical wizard." He also pointed out that Musk, leveraging close ties with U.S. President Donald Trump, wields significant political influence, but he questions: Is this company's sky-high valuation built on real technological strength, or is it just the sweet fruit of "crony capitalism"?

This economist is curious about how much tangible benefit such "blatant favoritism" can actually bring. He then draws a striking parallel between SpaceX and Bitcoin.

Krugman reminds the public that Trump previously denounced Bitcoin as a "scam," but during the 2024 election campaign, he did a complete 180, enthusiastically embracing the crypto circle. As Trump won the 2024 election in November and issued political promises to make the U.S. a "global Bitcoin superpower," Bitcoin's price skyrocketed. In fact, Bitcoin hit a record high of $126,080 on October 6, 2025.

Krugman specifically points out that Bitcoin's peak total market value was about $2.5 trillion, comparable to SpaceX's current valuation.

But good times didn't last. When Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on China, Bitcoin immediately became the sacrificial lamb in the "flash crash" on October 10 last year. Krugman mockingly calls cryptocurrencies the "Trump Trade," stating that the sharp decline was "completely unrelated to economic fundamentals and was entirely a result of political power struggles."

Last October, Krugman wrote that "cryptocurrencies are essentially a Trump Trade; the price collapse was caused by a retaliatory trade war threat that threatened Trump's political leverage."

In his latest article, he adds that as Trump's poll numbers and political influence decline, Bitcoin has also fallen from grace. The smart money that had early positions in the "Trump Trade" had long since cashed out their Bitcoin to loyal "Trump believers," taking profits and leaving others holding the bag.

He now believes that SpaceX's future scenario will be very similar to Bitcoin: early investors will be the "only winners," deliberately creating market frenzy and then selling at the top, while latecomers become the final bagholders.

Of course, Krugman admits that SpaceX and Bitcoin are not entirely the same; at least SpaceX has the Starlink division capable of generating real profits. But he emphasizes that unless Starlink demonstrates explosive growth beyond expectations, it cannot support the current valuation, and such explosive growth "is almost impossible" in his view.

"SpaceX is fundamentally just hype. At its core, it's a $2.75 trillion meme stock," Krugman wrote.

As of press time, SpaceX's stock closed at $185, with a market cap falling back to over $2.40 trillion; Bitcoin was trading at $62,557, with a total market value of about $1.25 trillion. Whether this capital frenzy woven by Musk and Trump will ultimately burst like a bubble, as Krugman suggests, remains to be seen, with global investors holding their breath.

• This article is reprinted with permission from: 《BlockBeats》
• Original title: "Market Cap Soars to $2.75 Trillion! Krugman Harshly Criticizes SpaceX: Basically a Meme Stock, Its Fate Like Bitcoin"
• Original author: Block Sister Mel