Written by Paul Veradittakit

Compiled

by AidiDiaoJP, Foresight News Key Points

• 
  

  Crypto firm IPOs unleash tremendous value despite market pricing challenges.



• 
  

  The token transparency framework aims to improve market clarity and attract more institutional capital to enter the token market.



• 
  

  The tokenization of stocks is reshaping financial markets, improving efficiency and expanding access to global capital.

The mispriced crypto IPO
Coinbase's performance since its launch is a typical example, revealing the open market's pricing

dilemma for cutting-edge innovation in financial infrastructure. We have witnessed COIN's entire process from a 52% rise in its opening price and a brief overrun of $100 billion in valuation to a deep pullback as market sentiment and the crypto cycle fluctuated. Every market shift seems to be repricing Coinbase with a new valuation framework, confusing long-term value investors and builders alike.

Circle's IPO is another recent example: Despite strong market demand for stablecoin exposure, Circle made less than $1.7 billion on the first day of listing, making it one of the most underpriced IPOs in decades. This is not only a special case in the crypto industry

, but also a structural pricing challenge faced by a new generation of financial companies when entering the open market.

The crypto industry needs a more adaptable price discovery mechanism, a mechanism that can bridge the gap between institutional demand and the real value of the platform as the market cycle changes.

New valuation framework

The

crypto market still lacks a standardized disclosure system similar to S-1 documents. The mispricing of crypto IPOs is proof that when underwriters are unable to map tokenomics to GAAP (GAAP) checklists, they are either overvalued due to hype or undervalued due to fear. To fill this gap, Pantera Capital's Cosmo Jiang partnered with Blockworks to launch the Token Transparency Report — which contains 40 metrics to transform the opacity of the agreement into IPO-level clarity.

The framework requires founders to

calculate revenue and publish marked-up internal wallet ownership based on actual entities to submit quarterly token holder reports (covering fund pools, cash flow, and
KPIs

)

How can this system of

disclosing details of market makers or CEX cooperation

to allow investors to assess liquidity risk before listing improve valuation?

• 
  

  Reduce discount rates: Clear circulation and unlock data bring the market closer to intrinsic value pricing to expand the buyer base :

  
  

• Institutional investors who have been blocked by “black box” agreements can participate in certified projects Regulatory response: SEC 2025 4

  
  

The crypto issuance guidelines released in January are highly compatible with this framework. Most of the paperwork was completed when the project was submitted, speeding up approval and narrowing the public-private valuation gap. Ethereum's latest upgrade perfectly explains the differences between blockchain and traditional enterprises: each new block destroys part of ETH (similar to automatic stock repurchases), while providing stakers with 3-5% return (similar to a stable dividend). The correct approach is to treat “the amount issued minus the amount destroyed” as free cash flow. Only the valuation obtained after discounting is in line with the on-chain ecological valuation, rather than simply reflecting the balance sheet. However, scarcity is only the first step; on-chain activity is the complete story: real-time data on stablecoin flows across wallets, bridging activity, and DeFi collateral flows is the fundamental

support for token prices.

A comprehensive valuation method should be based on the enterprise's traditional cash flow, with on-chain revenue (pledge income minus processing fee destruction) as a core element of verification. Continued attention to pledge yields, real-time

traffic metrics, and scenario analysis can keep valuation methods evolving with the times. Only in this way can traditional capital be attracted to the market.

Stock tokenization optimizes trading experience

Pantera Capital supports the RWA (Real World Asset) tokenization sector by investing in Ondo Finance. Recently, we launched a $250 million fund with Ondo to drive RWA growth. With Robinhood announcing

the tokenization of stocks, the sector is maturing at an accelerated pace.

Last week, Robinhood launched tokenized shares on its platform, highlighting the core contradictions of this new financial technology: permissionless finance versus permissioned finance, and the future role of DeFi.

Unlicensed tokenized stocks allow anyone to trade on the public chain at any time, opening up the US capital market to global investors, but they may also become A hotbed of insider trading and manipulation. And while the KYC-based licensing model maintains market fairness, it limits the core benefits of global access to tokenized stocks.

We believe tokenized stocks will reshape DeFi. DeFi's mission was to build an open, programmable financial primitive, but previously it mainly served cryptographic native tokens. The introduction of tokenized stocks has unlocked new use cases.

The structure of tokenized stocks will determine the ownership of the next wave of users and liquidity: in the licensing model, traditional institutions with user relationships, such as Robinhood, dominate the front-end. DeFi agreements can only compete in the back-end liquidity

unlicensed model

. DeFi protocols can control users and liquidity at the same time, creating a truly open global market Hyperliquid's HIP-3 upgrade perfectly explains this

One vision: Anyone can create a perpetual contract market for tokenized stocks by allocating oracles, leverage, and funding parameters through staking protocol tokens. Robinhood and Coinbase have launched stock perpetual contracts in the European Union, but their model is still more closed and less composable than DeFi. If kept on an open track

, DeFi will become the default place for programmable borderless financial engineering.

Bitcoin's market capitalization surpassed Google Bitcoin became the fifth largest asset in the world with a market capitalization of $2.128 trillion in
2025, surpassing Google

. Bitcoin surpassed $106,000, fueled by institutional adoption, spot Bitcoin ETF approval, and clear regulation. This milestone is proof that programmable money has found a clear product market fit

.

Looking ahead

, as Dan Morehead said, cryptocurrency investments provide returns unmatched by traditional markets.

• This is the reason for the accelerated financial and structural integration of the traditional open market and the crypto sector: digital asset treasury and crypto IPOs provide cryptographic financial exposure to the open market. Ten years after using cryptographic technology to optimize the traditional market structure, stablecoins and tokenization.

  
  

Crypto will no longer be a niche market discussed by tech enthusiasts, but will become the core technology that supports everyday life

.