Coinbase chose a different method for the company’s initial public offering today. Coinbase is a platform where users can choose to buy, sell or store cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Coinbase was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ersham and based in the United States.
Coinbase IPO? No, Coinbase Direct Listing.
According to a CNBC report, Coinbase’s initial market cap went above initial expectations. The company was valued at over $100 billion dollars after initial shares of Coinbase started at $381 and then increased to $429. Coinbase is listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol, COIN.
The company chose to go with a direct listing, which is different from an IPO. An IPO means that a company essentially sells part of their company through an intermediary, and as a result new shares of the company are created to sell on the public market.
What Coinbase decided to do with their direct listing was to forego the intermediary process and sell existing shares of the company directly to the public. While the direct listing method is less expensive, it also comes with more risk of gaining/losing investors and the potential to not raise as much capital.
But with Coinbase’s value far exceeding what experts initially estimated, it looks like the cryptocurrency trading platform made the right call. Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas told Coindesk why Coinbase decided to go with the direct listing option.
“The reason we’re doing a direct listing is that it’s going to get all market participants…We’re not allocating shares to just 10 institutions. This is going to be a robust, deep price discovery. And we’re excited to see where that market ends up.”
A Big Moment For Cryptocurrency
Coinbase states on their website that their mission is, “To increase economic freedom in the world.” Two of Coinbase’s main goals for their users are to ensure that Coinbase continues to be safe and secure and that the Coinbase platform is easy to use.
The company also has an incentive to learn more about cryptocurrency. Users can take courses on everything from Filecoin, Stellar Lumens, Compound, and earn cryptocurrency after completing said courses. Check out the full list of courses here.
Users can download the Coinbase wallet app to store their cryptocurrency, explore decentralized apps, and as a way to send or receive money from friends on a secure platform. For those who want to jump into the world of cryptocurrency but have no idea where to start, Coinbase has some handy guides on each digital currency on their website.
Coinbase’s direct listing today was notable because Coinbase is the first cryptocurrency platform to go public on the U.S stock market. Will other crypto-focused companies follow in the footsteps of Coinbase’s strong public stock share debut? Stay tuned to updates from Grit Daily to find out more.
