$26.5B SK Hynix US Listing Was 7x Oversubscribed — Then Crypto Moved In

When SK Hynix made its long-awaited debut on the Nasdaq, the reception was anything but quiet. The South Korean chipmaker’s SK Hynix US listing — a $26.5 billion raise through American Depositary Receipts — saw demand run at seven times the available share supply, and the stock surged over 13% on its first day of trading. But what happened next on the crypto side of the fence was just as striking: within hours, Wallet in Telegram was offering its 150 million registered users direct access to tokenized versions of those same shares.

Key takeaways

• SK Hynix raised $26.5 billion via ADRs, debuting on Nasdaq under ticker SKHYV with demand seven times the available supply.
• SKHYV shares rose over 13% on their first trading day, closing at $168.01.
• Wallet in Telegram now offers access to tokenized SK Hynix shares through the xStocks platform, reaching a user base of over 1 billion Telegram users.
• Solana supports SK Hynix share acquisition through Backpack and Ondo Finance, while Backpack also launched 24/7 trading for select US equities including SpaceX, Micron, and SanDisk.
• Retail investors historically received limited allocations in oversubscribed IPOs — tokenized equity platforms are directly targeting that gap.

SK Hynix’s $26.5 Billion Nasdaq Debut

SK Hynix is the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker and South Korea’s second most valuable company behind Samsung. Its Nasdaq debut marks a significant expansion of its investor base into the US market, timed deliberately to coincide with an extraordinary surge in AI-driven demand for memory chips.

The company’s ADRs, priced at $149, went live under the ticker SKHYV on Friday. By early afternoon, shares had climbed more than 13%, opening at $170 before settling to close at $168.01. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won told CNBC the listing felt like “a dream come true,” noting that AI agents and robots require “a lot of memory chips” — a comment that captures exactly why investors are paying attention.

The oversubscription tells its own story. Demand was seven times the number of available shares, a level of intensity that reflects both the AI memory boom and SK Hynix’s dominant position within it. The company controls the leading market share in high-bandwidth memory, or HBM — the specialized stacked memory chips that power Nvidia’s AI processors. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visited SK Hynix in Seoul in June, where the two companies announced a multiyear partnership, underscoring just how central the South Korean firm has become to the global AI supply chain.

What the Listing Funds

The capital raised isn’t sitting idle. SK Hynix plans to use the proceeds to fund aggressive factory expansion — including a $4 billion advanced packaging facility in West Lafayette, Indiana, scheduled for completion in 2028. The company also expects up to $458 million in US CHIPS Act funding and up to $570 million in Commerce Department loans. Back in South Korea, a single fabrication cluster in Yongin is projected to cost $390 billion, with four fabs now targeting completion by 2033.

For context: SK Hynix’s annual revenue nearly tripled between 2023 and 2025, reaching around $65 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG project that figure could surpass $235 billion by 2026 — a trajectory that helps explain why investors found even a seven-times oversubscribed offering attractive.

Tokenized SK Hynix Shares Now Accessible via Wallet in Telegram

The same day SKHYV began trading on Nasdaq, Wallet in Telegram — the native crypto wallet embedded within the messaging app — began offering access to tokenized SK Hynix shares through the xStocks platform. The move puts one of the most hotly anticipated listings in recent memory directly in front of a retail audience that previously would have had little or no pathway to participate.

Wallet in Telegram is backed by The Open Platform and has over 150 million registered users. Telegram itself counts more than 1 billion users globally, making the distribution potential here genuinely significant. The wallet is embedded natively into the app’s interface, meaning access requires no separate platform or brokerage account.

xStocks Platform and What It Changes for Retail

“Tokenized equities are redefining how people access global capital markets,” said Halil Mirakhmed, Chief Strategy Officer at Wallet in Telegram. “We’re seeing growing demand from retail investors who want the same opportunities traditionally available only to institutions.”

That framing isn’t just marketing. Retail investors have historically been at the back of the queue for high-demand offerings — institutional buyers get first access, and by the time individual investors can participate, the biggest gains are often already captured. Tokenized equity platforms are structurally addressing that imbalance. Earlier this year, Wallet in Telegram demonstrated this concretely: in the SpaceX offering, the platform delivered a 60% allocation to participating retail investors at a time when many retail channels received no shares at all.

The wallet also rolled out onchain yield options for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT holders earlier this year, suggesting a broader strategy of building out a full-service financial layer within Telegram’s ecosystem rather than offering isolated features.

Solana, Backpack, and Ondo Finance Join the Ecosystem

Wallet in Telegram isn’t alone in this space. Solana confirmed that SK Hynix shares are also accessible on its blockchain through two platforms: Backpack and Ondo Finance. The move signals that multiple crypto-native infrastructure players are converging on tokenized US equities as a meaningful product category.

Backpack went further on the same day, launching 24/7 trading for select US equities targeting international investors — an audience that faces timezone barriers and market-hour restrictions when trying to access US stocks through traditional brokerages. The initial lineup includes tokenized versions of SpaceX, Micron, and SanDisk. Around-the-clock trading is a structural advantage that conventional stock exchanges simply can’t offer, and for investors in Asia, Europe, or the Middle East, that matters.

Why Tokenized Equities Are Gaining Serious Ground

The timing here isn’t coincidental. SK Hynix’s US listing generated extraordinary demand precisely because it sits at the intersection of AI infrastructure, semiconductors, and global capital flows. That same combination of factors — high demand, limited retail access, and international interest — is exactly where tokenized equity platforms have the strongest argument to make.

What’s emerging is a parallel infrastructure for global capital markets: one that operates onchain, runs continuously, and reaches investors in jurisdictions or demographics that traditional brokerages underserve. The fact that multiple platforms — Wallet in Telegram via xStocks, Backpack, and Ondo Finance on Solana — moved simultaneously on the SK Hynix listing suggests a level of market readiness that goes beyond experimentation. These aren’t test cases anymore.

The deeper question is whether SK Hynix’s debut becomes a template. If a $26.5 billion, seven-times-oversubscribed listing can drive this level of coordinated tokenization activity on the same trading day, the next major IPO will almost certainly see the same playbook deployed — and perhaps more aggressively.

FAQ

What was the size and nature of SK Hynix’s US listing?

SK Hynix completed a $26.5 billion US listing via American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), which began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol SKHYV. The ADRs were priced at $149 per share.

How can retail investors access SK Hynix tokenized shares?

Retail investors can access tokenized SK Hynix shares through Wallet in Telegram’s xStocks platform, which is natively embedded within the Telegram messaging app and available to its over 150 million registered wallet users.

What was the market demand for SK Hynix shares in the US listing?

Demand for SK Hynix’s US shares was seven times greater than the number of shares available, reflecting intense investor interest driven by the company’s leading position in AI memory chips.

Are there other platforms besides Telegram offering tokenized SK Hynix shares?

Yes. Solana supports acquisition of SK Hynix shares through Backpack and Ondo Finance. Backpack also launched 24/7 trading for select US equities — including SpaceX, Micron, and SanDisk — for international investors on the same day as the Nasdaq debut.

Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.