Cryptocurrency giant Coinbase is going public today. The new ticker COIN marks a watershed moment for the crypto industry at large, which has watched its total market capitalization top $2 trillion.
The highly-anticipated listing, set for Wednesday, established COIN at a reference price of $250. COIN quickly soared to $424 before dropping to $398. At time of writing, COIN is trading at $362.
In an interview with investor and software engineer Marc Andreessen, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong credits incubator YCombinator for jumpstarting the company in 2012 with an initial seed investment of $150,000 that allowed him to quit his job.
Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam points to crypto’s unique use cases as foundational elements of a transformational shift in finance and economic transactions.
“For years, we tried to fit the way the world works today into crypto as a new technology when the reality is crypto was fundamentally changing the way the world works and creating its own world …
You can pay for stuff online pretty okay already … The thing that has mattered over time are all the crazy innovations that crypto uniquely enables – things like DeFi where people are building new financial systems in a trustless way or NFTs where people are now able to own digital media in a way they never could. And I think that that will just continue to be true over time as crypto evolves like any technology.”
The San Francisco-based exchange opted out of the more traditional initial public offering for a direct listing. Armstrong tells Aaron Sorkin on CNBC’s Squawk Box why he believes this avenue was the best approach.
“For me personally I was excited about the direct listing because, number one, I wanted there to be a true market on day one that set the price, not something that was set behind closed doors, and a small number of participants got to buy in early, or something like that. I felt like [a direct listing] was more true to the ethos of crypto.”
With a customer base topping 56 million, Coinbase allows users to buy, sell and trade Bitcoin, Ethereum and over 40 altcoins.
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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any loses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.
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