The CEO of Kraken says the crypto exchange is considering a traditional IPO following rival Coinbase’s volatile direct listing

  • Date: 11-Jun-2021
  • Source: Business Insider
  • Sector:Economy
  • Country:Middle East
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The CEO of Kraken says the crypto exchange is considering a traditional IPO following rival Coinbase’s volatile direct listing

Kraken founder and CEO Jesse Powell said he is considering a traditional initial public offering to take the cryptocurrency exchange public instead of a direct listing following Coinbase's volatile performance. "An IPO is looking a little more attractive in light of the direct listing's performance," Powell told . "I would say we're looking at it more seriously now having the benefit of seeing how the direct public offering played out for Coinbase." Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, went public on April 14 in what many viewed as a . The company was valued at but now hovers around a market cap of $58 billion. Powell pinned the volatility of Coinbase's performance to the method it used to go public, especially since existing shareholders are not prohibited from selling their shares at the debut in direct listings. Unlike in an IPO, companies that go public via direct listing do not issue new shares. Following a record for Kraken's bitcoin trading volume in the first quarter of 2021, Powell had . The Kraken boss told Fortune that he is still optimistic his company can go public next year. "Hopefully we'll have more analyst coverage out, and there's just more