Bitcoin BTC on stack of cryptocurrencies with Coinbase logo in background. © Thakingdude | Megapixl.com
The valuation of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) topped over US$100 billion on the day of its trading debut. The massive valuation is being seen as a major milestone for the digital currency market.
The company’s stock market debut was done through direct listing, where shares are not sold ahead of the opening.
Following the footsteps of tech companies across the world – Spotify Technology SA (NYSE:SPOT), Slack Technologies Inc (NYSE:WORK), Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) and Roblox Corp (NYSE:RBLX) – the direct listing by Coinbase helped employees and existing shareholders to sell their shares at the market price.
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While the reference price of Coinbase stood at US$250 a share, the shares opened a whopping 52.4% higher at US$381. The shares further surged in the intraday trade and clocked a day’s high of US$429.54 apiece. However, in the latter part of Wednesday’s trade, the shares witnessed correction and closed at US$328.28 on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ).
During the day, the shares traded in the range of US$310 to US$430.
At the end of the day’s trade, the cryptocurrency exchange’s market value was pegged at US$85.8 billion. The current valuation of the company is more than 10 times of what it was valued at in the previous private financing round in 2018 – US$8 billion.
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Sans options and restricted stock units, the valuation of the company stood at US$62 billion.
Started in 2012, Coinbase is one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges across the world, with 56 million users.
The global tech firms have encashed on the global liquidity surge as companies like Snowflake Inc (NYSE:SNOW), Palantir, DoorDash Inc (NYSE:DASH), Airbnb Inc (NASDAQ:ABNB) and Roblox have listed themselves in the past six months and valued between US$45 billion and US$110 billion.
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Experts see the successful listing of Coinbase as further validation of the cryptocurrencies, despite a purge from various governments across the globe.
