The Coinbase IPO is a watershed moment for the industry that will suck in big-name investors, says Crypto.com CEO

The Coinbase IPO is a watershed moment for the industry that will suck in big-name investors, says Crypto.com CEO

Coinbase's $100 billion stock market debut is a watershed moment for the cryptocurrency industry that will fuel a boom in investment, crypto exchange chief executive Kris Marszalek has said.

The head of the Crypto.com exchange told Insider that the direct listing "immediately reprices all the companies and all the deals in this space." He added that it was "extremely positive news for the whole industry."

Yet, Marszalek said Coinbase still faced some challenges, the main being the volatility of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and their resulting trading revenues. Exchanges need to add new lines of business to tackle this problem, he said.

Coinbase, the US's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, listed directly onto the Nasdaq exchange on Wednesday. Its valuation at one point shot above $100 billion but it closed at around $65 billion.

Crypto-enthusiasts and traditional investors alike were captivated. Many commentators hailed the listing as a coming-of-age moment for cryptocurrencies.

Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, said on Wednesday: "Bitcoin has survived years of skepticism and today's Coinbase debut is an exclamation point that cryptocurrencies are here to stay."

Marszalek's Crypto.com exchange is a smaller but sizable rival to Coinbase, with just over 10 million users compared to Coinbase's 56 million. He said the listing