Technology
Coinbase Cleared For Stock Market Listing As "Mainstreaming" Of Cryptos Continues

The development is yet another example of how what was once dismissed as a fringe area or one used by dubious actors is now becoming increasingly mainstream.
Coinbase
Global, the US cryptocurrency exchange, has won regulatory
clearance to list its shares on the Nasdaq exchange,
Reuters has reported. The move will be a breakthrough
moment for digital assets investors, adding to a sense that this
area has become “mainstream”.
The company, which plans to go public through a so-called direct
listing, expects to list its shares on the Nasdaq under the
ticker “COIN” on 14 April, the report said. Regulatory approval
has been granted by the Securities
and Exchange Commission.
In a direct listing, no shares are sold in advance, unlike an
initial public offering. The company’s share price is determined
by orders coming into the stock exchange, the report
said.
In a regulatory filing last month, Coinbase said that its stock
in the private market traded at a weighted average price of
$343.58 in the first quarter of 2021 until 15 March, rising
almost 13 times in its valuation to around $68 billion in the
space of a few months. That surge mirrors the big rise in the
price of bitcoin, rising from $6,005 per coin in 6 April, 2020,
to $58,138 as of 4 April, 2021. Three weeks ago, bitcoin rose
above $60,000 before easing back slightly.
Crytocurrencies such as bitcoin have benefited from worries that
state fiat currencies are being devalued by massive central bank
quantitative easing amid COVID-19, as well as such activity since
the 2008 financial crisis. Digital assets also benefit from
perceived security and speed of the underlying distributed ledger
technology called blockchain.
Major financial institutions such as BNY Mellon, JP Morgan,
Guggenheim Partners, Morgan Stanley Bordier and Julius Baer
are getting involved. Late last week, reports said that Goldman Sachs will
soon offer private wealth clients exposure to digital assets such
as bitcoin, adding to a run of large banks entering the
space. Outside of banking and finance, Tesla, the electric
car firm led by maverick entrepreneur and space flight tycoon
Elon Musk, is among the most high-profile players in bitcoin. The
firm said in early February that it had bought $1.5 billion of
bitcoin.