China’s largest memory chipmaker, ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), is being priced as the most valuable company on the mainland ahead of its debut on the Shanghai stock exchange. Crypto startup Trade.xyz is facilitating this valuation through a contract linked to CXMT on the decentralized derivatives exchange Hyperliquid.
The perpetual futures contract for CXMT traded at approximately $6.35 per share on Hyperliquid, following a peak of $8.60 days before the chipmaker’s listing scheduled for Monday. This pricing implies a market capitalization of roughly $425 billion, or about 2.9 trillion yuan, surpassing the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which has a market cap of about 2.56 trillion yuan.
The initial offer price for CXMT was set at 8.66 yuan ($1.28) per share, giving it a valuation of 579 billion yuan at listing, which would represent the largest IPO in the tech-oriented STAR market’s history. Hyperliquid’s contracts allow traders to speculate on various assets without owning the underlying asset.
The high premium for CXMT’s shares has been driven by offshore investors who have turned to crypto platforms to create a secondary market for the listing, as direct participation in the Shanghai debut is restricted for foreigners. Additionally, mainland retail investors face significant barriers to entry for the STAR market, including a requirement for a 500,000 yuan account balance and two years of trading experience.
Eric Chen, co-founder and CEO of Web3 finance firm Injective Labs, stated, “A market like this isn’t valuing the company; it’s forecasting where the price of the stock might open.” He noted that given the typical pricing structure of Chinese IPOs and the limited initial float, a strong debut is expected. However, the price reflects the views of optimistic participants who are unable to access the underlying shares directly.
Chen added, “Part of the premium is a forecast. Part of it is simply what the world will pay for exposure it can’t get directly in the equities market.” The listing of CXMT, the world’s fourth-largest DRAM memory chipmaker, comes amid an industry upcycle driven by AI demand and a global supply shortage.
The company is expected to raise up to $8.6 billion in what would be Asia’s largest IPO this year. Analysts suggest that crypto-native platforms are increasingly acting as informal price discovery mechanisms for assets that investors cannot otherwise access, including pre-IPO companies and restricted markets. Chen remarked that early contracts on platforms like Hyperliquid have often tracked closely with eventual opening prices.
Tanay Ved, a senior research associate at Coin Metrics, noted that Hyperliquid’s pre-IPO perpetuals have created “synthetic, 24/7 derivative markets” for private tech firms. He highlighted that its contract for Cerebras Systems settled within about 1.3% of the stock’s opening price on Nasdaq, while its SpaceX contract traded around 20% above the fixed offer price ahead of its June debut.
Chen concluded, “What the funding and open interest tell you is that this is still a small, sentiment-driven market: enthusiastic longs on one side, and a smaller group positioned for convergence on the other.” He believes the headline valuation is being driven by a limited number of market participants.
