April 14th is a historical date for the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Coinbase, one of the most prominent crypto exchanges in the US, got listed publicly on Nasdaq. Unlike companies that opt for an IPO, Coinbase was listed directly which means that instead of creating new shares, all its existing shares were listed. While the shares were priced $250 apiece as a reference by Nasdaq, $COIN opened at $381 — a 52% increase over the reference price.
Interestingly, within just 10 minutes of trading, Coinbase’s shares went as high as $429 — giving the company a valuation of $100 billion. However, the shares went low and high during the day. They were priced at $328.28 at the time of the market closing. This imputes a valuation of $85.7 billion for Coinbase.
Coinbase’s valuation is also higher than the exchanges it’s trading on. Nasdaq’s market cap is $26 billion, while NYSE’s valuation is $67 billion. In its first quarterly report, just before going public, Coinbase announced that it’s profitable and made a revenue of $1.8 billion in Q1 of this year.
In a nod to Nakamoto’s message on the first bitcoin block minted back in 2009, Coinbase also got a message hidden in the bitcoin block on its listing day. It states: “NYTimes 10/Mar/21 House Gives Final Approval to Biden’s $1.9T Pandemic Relief Bill.” This is in reference to The New York Times article where the United States government is giving one of the largest economic stimulus in the country’s history.
It’s worth noting that Bitcoin also boomed amidst the Coinbase listing. The world’s dominant cryptocurrency breached the $64,000 mark, its highest till now.