Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong
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Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has reached an implicit valuation of $ 68 billion ahead of its expected direct listing on the Nasdaq.
The latest valuation is based on the weighted average price of the volume of Coinbase shares cited in a revised S-1 dossier published on Wednesday. The company reported that private shares were traded at $ 343.58 per piece for the first quarter of 2021 ended March 15, which increases the company’s valuation by 13 times.
According to PitchBook data, the company was last valued at $ 8 billion in October 2018.
The presentation of the revised regulation also shows that the company has more than 196 million shares outstanding during the first quarter of 2021, resulting in the latest valuation figure. Although the private market value is less indicative of the value of a company’s stock, the Nasdaq will use this information to set a benchmark price for the company prior to its direct listing.
“These secondary market share sales help give a balance sheet of their valuation to the public market, but we put less weight on it than, say, if the company had raised money from new investors at that level,” Matthew Kennedy said. Leading stock market strategist at Renaissance Capital.
Coinbase’s first filing in February showed the company reported a profit of $ 322 million last year on net income that doubled to $ 1.1 billion.
A direct listing is an alternative to IPO, and involves investors and employees converting their holdings into shares listed on a stock exchange. The founders have become increasingly disenchanted with the IPO process in recent years, which has led to a boom in direct listings and acquisition vehicles for special uses.
Companies such as Roblox, Spotify, Slack and Palantir were made public through direct listings on the New York Stock Exchange. Coinbase will be the first major direct price of the Nasdaq.
The exuberance around cryptocurrencies has been growing steadily over the past year. Bitcoin, in particular, has gained more acceptance among major companies and investors. Earlier Wednesday, CNBC learned exclusively that Morgan Stanley has become the first major U.S. bank to offer its wealth management clients access to bitcoin funds. Meanwhile, big companies like Square and Tesla have been buying more bitcoins in recent months.
In its initial presentation, Coinbase included the fall in potential bitcoin prices as one of its risk factors. According to the archive, the company has more than 43 million users who market digital assets in more than 100 countries.
Bitcoin traded above $ 56,000 per currency on Tuesday, according to currency metrics. The cryptocurrency asset had never traded above $ 20,000 before December.
According to the latest filing, Coinbase plans to issue about 115 million Class A common stock shares. The company, ranked No. 10 on the 2018 CNBC Disruptor 50 list, will be listed under the COIN symbol.