Coinbase listing set to capitalise on crypto bull run

Coinbase listing set to capitalise on crypto bull run

Coinbase became a dominant company by winning the trust of cryptocurrency novices. Next comes the stock market.

When the nine-year-old start-up lists on the Nasdaq exchange on Wednesday, it will become the first major cryptocurrency company to go public in the US, a milestone that has generated excitement in an already buoyant market for digital assets.

The challenge is that few people know how to value the company, which counts on volatile transactional revenues in lightly regulated markets for the vast majority of its business.

"It's a bit of a Rorschach test for people's belief in crypto,“ said Tom Loverro, a partner at IVP, which valued the company at $1.6bn when it first invested in 2017.

Coinbase operates the largest US cryptocurrency exchange and holds funds for more than 43m retail customers, capitalising on the demand for an easy-to-use storage solution in the early days of bitcoin.

The company's listing comes during a bull run in the price of cryptocurrencies, with bitcoin more than doubling since January to cross the $60,000 barrier. Investors have also flocked to new technologies, bidding up electric vehicle companies and speculative assets such as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs.

The heady combination could create volatility in Coinbase's shares, even though the company