Coinbase has yet to go public, and the markets are already on fire in anticipation of the most awaited direct listing in the cryptocurrency world and the what will be the first major listing ever recorded on the Nasdaq.
An independent valuation based on the price of its shares in private markets determined that Coinbase has a potential valuation of between $90 billion and $100 billion before its direct listing.
According to activity in late February, this price would far exceed a previous valuation of $77 billion. At the time, confidential sources told Coindek that as the “big day” approached, speculators were bidding higher and higher on the stock.
“The third weekly transaction closed on Friday and the clearing price was $303 a share. The first week it was 200 bucks a share, the second week it was $301 a share, and the third week it was $303 a share. So you can kind of see price discovery happening.”
Bloomberg reported that, during the last day of private trading before the direct listing, investors traded Coinbase stocks at range between $350 to $375, which would raise Coinbase’s valuation by as much as 33% in a matter of weeks, and over 300% higher than what analysts expected for its IPO (priced at just $28 million).
Before going public, credited investors could trade Coinbase shares on the Nasdaq Private Market, a restricted market with low volume and high volatility, where a limited number of participants can speculate on the price of some shares of companies that are not yet publicly traded.
The numbers, however, do add up to its expected performance. After registering a bad year during the bear period of the crypto markets back in 2018, Coinbase grew to become the colossus it is today.
Due to its characteristics, the private market is not necessarily an accurate indicator to determine what will happen when Coinbase becomes publicly available; however, it is an excellent reference to see what the markets expect to happen… And the future looks promising.
And we’re not just talking about Coinbase, but almost the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. Coinbase going public is one of the most significant supports for the crypto industry in recent times.
The United States is one of the countries with the highest volume of exchange trading, has one of the world’s largest GDPs, concentrates a significant number of cryptocurrency startups, and yet is known for having strict laws when it comes to digital assets.
A stock exchange listing could provide an additional layer of legitimacy in the eyes of potential new users, stimulating the growth of its customer base. This would simply accelerate a trend that has been growing over time, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 market crisis.