Coinbase reference price set at $250 per share ahead of Nasdaq debut

Reuters2021-04-14

Nasdaq on Tuesday set a reference price of $250 per share for Coinbase Global Inc, projecting a value for the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange at $49.19 billion ahead of its landmark stock market debut on Wednesday.

The reference price is not an offering price for investors to purchase shares, but rather a benchmark for performance when the stock starts trading the exchange on Wednesday.

Coinbase shares are set to start trading under the “COIN” symbol. The opening public price will be determined by buy and sell orders collected by the Nasdaq from broker-dealers.

The reference price is below the $343.58 volume-weighted average price Coinbase’s shares were trading at privately in the first quarter of this year.

If shares trade hands at or above the reference price, Coinbase would be valued at more than six times the $8 billion the company was worth in its last private fundraising round in 2018.

By comparison, the market capitalization of New York Stock Exchange-parent company Intercontinental Exchange is around $66 billion.

Coinbase has opted to go public through a direct listing rather than a traditional initial public offering. This means the company will not raise any money and existing investors are not bound by lock-up restrictions on when they can divest their holdings following the market debut.

The option to go public is much less common than a traditional IPO but is gaining traction. Previous high-profile direct listings include Spotify Technology SA in 2018, Slack Technologies Inc in 2019 and Roblox Corp in 2021.

Founded in 2012, Coinbase is one of the best-known cryptocurrency platforms globally and has more than 56 million users who trade various virtual coins, including bitcoin, ethereum and XRP.

Bitcoin hit a record of $62,741 on Tuesday, extending its 2021 rally to new heights a day before the Coinbase listing.

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Comments

  • AhBin
    2021-04-14
    AhBin
    When does trading starts?
  • lgnt
    2021-04-14
    lgnt
    Like n comment pls
  • Silverone
    2021-04-14
    Silverone
    Likr comment
  • yeeee
    2021-04-14
    yeeee
    Buy!!
  • Ahvi
    2021-04-14
    Ahvi
    $Coinbase Global, Inc.(COIN)$Personally, I think even @ $250 per share; COIN is still slightly overvalued. Significant challenges await COIN as more more crypto exchanges come into the market. COIN has had unprecedented growth for the most part of last year and early this year as it had more or less of a monopoly - allowing it to charge crazy high trading fees. But can it sustain such high charges as more competitors come into play? Probably not as marketforces has shown us in other areas. Second, can COIN anticipate more investors acquiring BTC/other crypto in the future? The product is still relatively new and nobody actually knows what is in store for the crypto industry in the near term to mid term. Will there b
  • ccmk
    2021-04-14
    ccmk
    Comment and Like [抱拳]
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