Large Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinbase Set to Go Public

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase was set to go public Wednesday at an initial price of $250 per share.

The initial public offering for Coinbase Global Inc. comes as the world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, reached all-time highs, breaking over $64,000 per coin.

“The Coinbase IPO is potentially a watershed event for the crypto industry and will be something [Wall] Street will be laser focused on to gauge investor appetite,” Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives wrote this week, the Associated Press reported.

“Coinbase is a foundational piece of the crypto ecosystem and is a barometer for the growing mainstream adoption of Bitcoin and crypto for the coming years,” Ives said.

The U.S.-based company’s revenue doubled last year to $1.14 billion as verified users of the platform swelled to 43 million, AP reported. After losing millions in 2019, the company made a profit of $322.3 million in 2020.

The company also said for the first quarter of 2021, it had $1.8 billion in revenue and a net income of between $730 and $800 million.

Some analysts think the company could be valued at over $100 billion.

The company is the largest crypto company to go public and will trade under the symbol “COIN.”

Some see investing in the stock to buy into the crypto market but avoid the volatility of cryptocurrency.

“It could also be a less volatile security than the coins themselves,” said Lule Demmissie, president of Ally Invest, according to AP.

“It’s going to legitimize a lot of what these companies are doing," Marcus Swanepoel, CEO of London-based crypto platform Luno, told NBC News about the IPO. "For one, it’s going to show just how big the industry is and how much it’s growing."