Unlock of about 1.3 billion SpaceX shares coincides with Aave collateral proposal
Key Facts
Plans to accept tokenized SpaceX shares as loan collateral on the Aave protocol face the impending unlock of a tranche of nearly 1.3 billion shares, according to a LlamaRisk assessment published on the protocol's governance forum. The assessment links the tranche's eligibility for sale to the passage of two trading days after the earnings announcement, which took place on the evening of October 20, 2026. The unlock coincides with an Aave Labs proposal to list SPCXc in the equities hub on the Base network. The plan concerns a token providing exposure to the company's Nasdaq-listed shares, which trade under the ticker SPCX. The proposed use is limited to posting the token as collateral in the decentralized lending system, while the listing parameters do not allow SPCXc itself to be borrowed.
The LlamaRisk assessment set the proposed collateral factor at 55.00%, as part of a package of conditions for adding the token to the equities hub. This factor determines how much of the asset's value is recognized when used as collateral, rather than counting its full value for that purpose. The assessment also proposed a supply cap of 37,000 SPCXc tokens, limiting the quantity that can be supplied under the proposed parameters. On liquidation, the proposed maximum bonus for carrying it out was 6.50%, one of the specified conditions governing the collateral. The proposal set the collateral risk factor used to calculate the premium at 1,000 basis points. The listing parameters thus combine limits on recognized collateral value, supply volume, the liquidation bonus and the risk factor, with their adoption remaining subject to the governance process.
On on-chain trading, the outstanding supply of SPCXc stood at about 13,214.32 tokens in the risk assessment snapshot preceding the news, according to LlamaRisk. The firm estimated liquidity in the main trading pool on Aerodrome Slipstream at about $1.04 million in that snapshot. The largest 10 holders owned 73.2% of the tokens, according to the same assessment. A comparison of trading periods showed that weekend trading volume in the token was roughly a quarter of its weekday level. The assessment thus places trading-pool liquidity, ownership concentration and variations in activity through the week in the context of evaluating the token before accepting it as collateral. These metrics relate to the on-chain SPCXc market, while the shares to which the token provides exposure trade on Nasdaq.
SPCXc represents certificates issued by Coinbase Onchain Special Purpose Vehicle Limited, according to LlamaRisk's description of the structure underlying the token. This structure provides exposure to listed shares through certificates traded on-chain. Direct redemption of these certificates is restricted to allowlisted addresses, under the access conditions cited in the assessment. This restriction ties direct redemption to an address's eligibility, alongside the existence of a market for trading the token through the liquidity pool. The redemption conditions and certificate structure form part of the context for the proposal to use SPCXc as collateral, which addresses the token's treatment in the lending system on the Base network.
Against the backdrop of the impending share unlock, SpaceX reported third-quarter revenue of $14.6 billion, according to its earnings filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Revenue in the corresponding quarter a year earlier was $5.6 billion, putting quarterly revenue growth at 161% year on year. The company recorded quarterly net income of $4.4 billion in the third quarter. SpaceX attributed its revenue growth to the "superintelligence segment and accelerating growth in the connectivity segment," according to the earnings filing. In the reaction following the announcement, the company's shares rose nearly 4% in after-hours trading, according to ABC News. The move came on the evening of October 20, 2026, following the release of results, as the date on which the tranche linked to the announcement becomes eligible for sale approached.
The next step for the listing proposal is to publish a vote for its approval, according to the implementation process outlined by Aave Labs on the governance forum. The company said the required action was to "publish an Aave Improvement Proposal vote," paving the way for approval and on-chain implementation. The proposed implementation includes adding the token to the equities hub under the specified collateral, supply and liquidation parameters. This process is proceeding alongside the approaching eligibility for share sales, which the risk assessment linked to quarterly results. Under this condition, the tranche unlock falls two trading days after SpaceX's actual announcement on the evening of October 20, 2026.