From SPCX to PreStocks: A panoramic comparison of the risks and rights of four tokenized stocks under SEC regulation.

Written by: Pine Analytics

Translated by: AididiaoJP, Foresight News

Abstract

Solana has effectively captured the tokenized stock market, accounting for about 97% of the total on-chain tokenized stock trading volume as of May 2026 (approximately $869 million on Solana, with all other chains combined totaling about $24 million). However, the four issuers defining this market—Backpack Securities (SPCX), Ondo Global Markets, xStocks (Backed Finance), and PreStocks—are not the same product. They appear almost identical on price charts, but the underlying legal instruments are vastly different, ranging from redeemable real securities to purely synthetic private market exposure.

This distinction is usually invisible until problems arise—PreStocks encountered issues in May 2026.

The actual ownership (ranked from best to worst):

• Backpack / SPCX — Closest to true ownership. Tokens can be redeemed for underlying shares through ACATS/DTCC channels (for qualified holders only), converting into UCC Article 8 security rights with real ownership. Drawback: Redemption is limited to registered holders; the original on-chain tokens remain SPV debt rights.
• Ondo Global Markets — Strongest protection among non-redeemable models. A structured note backed by a bankrupt-isolation SPV, 1:1 + buffer collateral, with third-party securities agents holding first priority, daily verification—explicitly no shareholder rights.
• xStocks — Most DeFi native (Raydium, Jupiter, Kamino), but no shareholder rights and (contrary to common marketing) collateral "may not always be underlying shares." Holders bear credit risk.
• PreStocks — The weakest stance: synthetic exposure to pre-IPO SPV, no rights, questionable endorsement. In May 2026, Anthropic and OpenAI declared the underlying share transfers invalid/unauthorized, causing the tokens to drop by 34–40%; PreStocks showed an implied valuation of Anthropic exceeding $1.3 trillion, while actual assets were only about $23 million, and the promised proof report was never published.

The decisive variable in on-chain pricing is arbitrage: Tokenized stocks have two prices—24/7 on-chain price and the underlying stock price determined by traditional markets that close overnight and on weekends. When a live underlying market with arbitrage exists (xStocks, Ondo, Backpack during U.S. stock trading hours), the anchoring remains tight, with typical swap slip tolerance for liquid names at about 0.1–0.5%. During non-trading hours, weekends, or in cases like PreStocks with no publicly available underlying assets, premiums and discounts can widen, and prices may deviate dramatically. Liquidity is also highly concentrated on a few star assets (TSLAx, NVDAx, CRCLx, SPCX), while over 100 long-tail names have wide quotes and large slips.

The bottom line is: Solana has won the venue, the open question is which structure will win holders—regulation has tilted the answer. The actual effect of the SEC staff statement in January 2026 is to pressure pure synthetic models, favoring issuer-sponsored and redeemable custody structures. Therefore, for anyone choosing these tokens, the decision of what you actually hold is legal.

Background

Tokenized stocks refer to crypto assets that track ownership recorded on a blockchain and value pegged to equity. On January 28, 2026, an SEC staff statement established a governance taxonomy distinguishing:

• Issuer-supported tokens — which can represent real equity ownership.
• Custodial / rights tokens — where third parties hold real shares and issue tokens to represent indirect interests.
• Synthetic / pegged tokens — which provide only economic exposure, without claims to shares.

The core warning of the statement: Third-party tokenized securities "may provide different rights than the underlying," and holders may face risks specific to the tokenized party (such as its bankruptcy) that direct shareholders do not. This is the perspective for all that follows.

Detailed Analysis of Four Products

Backpack Securities — SPCX

Issuer and Mechanism: SPCX is issued by the regulated U.S. broker Backpack Securities, launching on Solana on June 11–12, 2026, coinciding with the SpaceX NASDAQ IPO—reportedly the first new public stock to simultaneously have an on-chain market. Each token is backed 1:1 by real SpaceX shares, held in regulated custody. Liquidity is routed by Sunrise DeFi.

Legal Structure and Holder Rights: Backpack's structure is the strongest for holders because tokens can be redeemed for underlying equity. Qualified holders (onboarded, KYC-ed) can redeem tokens for actual shares and transfer them to any traditional broker via ACATS/DTCC settlement channels. At the brokerage end, this represents UCC Article 8 securities rights, with real ownership (dividends, corporate actions, transfers). Note: The original on-chain tokens are still described in Backpack's own description as "tokenized debt rights / SPV debt rights." Redemption for real shares is limited to qualified holders—unregistered random secondary market buyers are closer to the noteholders described below.

On-chain Market Data — Spreads and Value: By June 15, SPCX had surpassed $100 million in 24-hour trading volume, accounting for approximately 40% of early tokenized stock trading on Solana. The underlying SpaceX equity IPO was priced at $135, opening at $160.95 on the first day (+19%), reaching an intraday high of $225.64 on June 16. Due to SpaceX being newly listed and highly volatile, tokenized forms carry significant new listing/crypto access premiums: Tokenized variants (such as BitMart's bSPCX ~145 USDT, third-party SPCXON) deviated significantly from NASDAQ prices in after-hours and pure crypto periods (when no active equity market was available for arbitrage).

Risks: Concentration (currently only one underlying), redemption limited to qualified holders, and standard custody/operational risks for brokers.

Ondo Global Markets

Issuer and Mechanism: Ondo tokenized stocks are structured notes—debt instruments issued by the bankruptcy-isolated SPV Ondo Global Markets (BVI) Limited. Launched in January 2026, it currently lists 264 tokenized stocks and ETFs, reporting a TVL exceeding $1 billion, making it the most complete equity/ETF roster among the four products. Token holders' rights are governed by Swiss law.

Legal Structure and Holder Rights: This is the strongest protection among non-redeemable models. Tokens are backed 1:1 by underlying securities held with regulated custody brokers + buffer collateral; Ankura Trust Company serves as verification and securities agent, holding perfected collateral rights with first priority, daily verification, monthly reconciliations, segregated accounts, independent directors, and annual audits. However, the rights gap is clear and directly derived from Ondo's legal documents: "You will not appear on the shareholder register," "You do not have shareholder voting rights, rights to shareholder information, or other shareholder rights." Broadridge integration allows holders to express voting preferences, which Ondo may adopt—this is a governance experience function, not ownership.

On-chain Market Data — Spreads and Value: Ondo leads the tokenized stock market by value—accounting for approximately 58–60% on RWA.xyz in the first half of 2026, with around 264 listed assets and over $1 billion in TVL. Since Ondo's model has collateral backing and is subject to institutional arbitrage, on-chain prices closely track the underlying NAV during U.S. stock trading hours; deviations occur during non-trading periods like with other products.

Risks: Holders own a note debt claim against the SPV, not equity—no shareholder rights; exposure to issuer/custodian operational failures (mitigated by the securities agent structure but not eliminated).

xStocks (Backed Finance)

Issuer and Mechanism: xStocks is an SPL token issued on Solana by Backed Assets (JE) Limited, launching on June 30, 2025. The roster includes over 130 stocks and ETFs—AAPLx, TSLAx, NVDAx, METAx, GOOGLx, COINx, CRCLx, MSTRx, as well as SPYx and QQQx. Each is classified as a bearer debt instrument, categorized as a tracker certificate. xStocks is the most DeFi native option: Raydium is the primary AMM, Jupiter aggregates quotes, and Kamino accepts xStock as collateral for lending.

Legal Structure and Holder Rights: Only economic exposure—no shareholder voting, no direct dividend rights (dividends are transmitted through re-basing), and no legal claims to the underlying shares or rights to residual assets in a corporate liquidation. Important correction to common marketing: xStocks are often described as "fully backed 1:1 by underlying shares," but xStocks product disclosures (appearing on Kraken and Bybit risk pages) state that collateral "may not always be underlying shares" and "other qualified assets (including cash collateral) may be used as alternative collateral." Holders bear Backed's credit and solvency risk regardless of underlying performance.

On-chain Market Data — Spreads and Value: As of mid-May 2026, xStocks reached approximately $293.5 million AUM on Solana, with total on-chain trading volume exceeding $3 billion, and DEX trading volume exceeding $517 million at the beginning of 2026. Liquidity is concentrated in a few names (TSLAx, NVDAx, CRCLx); these assets have a recommended swap slip tolerance of about 0.1–0.5% on Raydium/Jupiter. Spread mechanism: During U.S. stock trading hours, arbitrage between chain pools and real equity keeps anchoring tight; long-tail assets have thin order books, leading to wide quotes and steep slips; during weekends and after hours, with TradFi closed, prices are entirely determined by crypto supply and demand, leading to premiums/discounts.

Risks: Issuer credit risk, alternative collateral risk, thin long-tail liquidity, and no shareholder status.

PreStocks

Issuer and Mechanism: PreStocks tracks exposure to private equity through SPV, focusing on pre-IPO private companies (such as OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX before their listings). Public trading volume data is scarce and unverified: The highest traceable daily trading volume from third parties was about $29 million (April 2026), while the platform's quoted data (with daily ATH of $54 million and totaling over $750 million) has not been confirmed by any third party. Operates under Regulation S—targeting non-U.S. persons (and several other jurisdictions).

Legal Structure and Holder Rights: The weakest holder stance. Tokens provide only economic exposure—no ownership, voting, dividend, or information rights. Claims fully depend on the enforceability of upstream SPV interests in privately held companies with strict transfer restrictions. PreStocks denies being a broker, advisor, exchange, transfer agent, custodian, or VASP.

On-chain Market Data — Spreads and Value: This is the most disconnected among the four products because there is no arbitrageable public underlying market—the "price" is the platform/implied mark, not an arbitrage NAV. Structural fragility became evident in May 2026: Anthropic and OpenAI publicly stated that the underlying pre-IPO SPV share transfers were invalid/unauthorized (Anthropic: Transfer to SPV is "invalid under our transfer restrictions"), resulting in affected tokens dropping 34–40% (Anthropic -34% over 7 days, OpenAI -39%; intraday about -40%). Compounding the issue, the platform's implied valuation of Anthropic exceeded $1.3 trillion, while total assets were only about $23 million, and the promised third-party proof report was never published. The spread/discount here reflects not just liquidity but genuine doubt about the enforceability of endorsements.

Risks: Controversial/possibly unenforceable endorsements, no proof, no shareholder rights, poor liquidity in private underlyings, exclusion of U.S. persons.

On-chain Spreads and Stock Prices

Why spreads exist. Tokenized stocks have two prices: the on-chain trading price (determined by DEX/CEX 24/7 supply and demand) and the underlying stock price (determined by the equity market, which closes overnight and on weekends). The gap between the two tells the story.

During U.S. stock trading hours—arbitrageurs (or authorized participants able to mint/redeem against real shares) keep the on-chain price ≈ the underlying. Anchoring is tight; typical swap slip tolerance for liquid names is around 0.1–0.5%.

During non-trading hours and on weekends—equity markets close, with no fresh NAV anchoring tokens, and prices are wholly driven by crypto demand fluctuations. Premiums and discounts arise—most intensely around events (like a hot new listing such as SPCX or how pre-IPO names react to news).

Liquidity concentration. Among the four issuers, trading volume is concentrated on a few star assets (TSLAx, NVDAx, CRCLx, SPCX). Over 100 long-tail assets often have thin order books, meaning any meaningful scale leads to wide quotes and steep slips.

Conclusion

The SEC staff statement in January 2026 strengthened scrutiny over synthetic equity while opening regulated pathways for true rights models—the DTC no-action letter in December 2025 retained the indirect holding framework of UCC Article 8. This trajectory favors issuer sponsorship and redeemable custody models (like Backpack and Superstate's native equities) and pressures pure synthetic models (like PreStocks). The PreStocks SPV transfer dispute is the clearest living example of the specific risks of tokenized parties warned by the SEC: Token trading was normal until the relevant company declared endorsements invalid.

This regulatory boundary directly maps to the practical differences among the four products. On charts, they all track stock prices, but in legal and structural terms, they are four different tools—Backpack is closest to ownership and redemption of real shares, Ondo is the best-protected note, xStocks is the most DeFi-native tracker certificate, and PreStocks is the most speculative synthetic SPV exposure.

On-chain, the key variable determining the spread is whether there exists an arbitrageable live underlying market—which is why liquid xStocks names anchor tightly during trading hours, while PreStocks may deviate dramatically. The venue issue has been resolved, but the structural issue remains—this, rather than the ticker, is what each holder is actually choosing.