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Source: Primakov, Shutterstock
Summary
- The SEC has approved Coinbase’s proposal for direct listing on NASDAQ under the symbol COIN.
- The cryptocurrency exchange is valued close to US$68 billion based the volume weighted-average price of US$343.58.
- Coinbase opted for a direct listing rather than traditional initial public offering.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has green lit Coinbase Global, Inc.’s plans for direct listing, the cryptocurrency exchange informed on Friday, April 2.
The San Francisco-based company expects its class A common stock to start trading on on NASDAQ Global Select Market on April 14 under the ticker COIN.
Coinbase, which was established in 2012, provides a platform for online retailers to accept cryptocurrency as payments.
The company said its customers traded over US$456 billion on its platform since inception and parked over US$90 billion worth of assets on the platform.
@Kalkine 2021 Image
Coinbase Takes Direct Listing Route
Coinbase opted for a direct listing rather than traditional initial public offering.
Traditional IPOs require creating new company shares. Underwriters help the company in several stages of an IPO such as in setting the offering price and getting regulatory clearance.
In direct listing, a company directly sell their shares to public. The process does not involve any underwriters or investment banks. The company does not dilute their existing shares by creating new ones. Instead, the company’s existing investors, promoters and employees who hold its shares sells them to the public.
Here, Coinbase’s will float 115 million class A common shares to raise about US$943 million.
Allen & Company, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Securities, and Citigroup Global Markets are acting as financial advisors in the listing process.
According to Coinbase’s amended Form S-1, the company is valued at approximately US$68 billion. The company said the volume weighted-average price per share in private trading during the first quarter of 2021 was US$343.58 and it has 196,760,122 shares outstanding in the quarter.
Source: Pixabay
Coinbase Financials
Coinbase’s total revenue during the year ended Dec. 31, 2020 jumped to US$1.3 billion from US$533.7 million in 2019.
The company reported a net income of US$322.3 million in 2020, against the US$30.4 loss during the year-ago period. Adjusted EBITDA in 2020 rose to US$527.4 million from US$24.3 million in 2019.
Coinbase will report the results for its first quarter of 2021 ended March and provide a full year financial forecast on April 6.
