The universe of cryptocurrencies has reached the Stock Market. The platform for the purchase and sale of crypto assets Coinbase has marked an initial price of 381 dollars in its stock market premiere, which is 52% more than the previously fixed price of 250 green tickets, although as the minutes passed, the titles rose above of the 400 dollars. This implies a market capitalization of more than $ 100 billion.
Its valuation thus places it among the 85 most valuable listed companies in the US and ahead of the sum of the Nasdaq and Intercontinental Exchange, owner of the NYSE.
The company was founded in 2012 – when bitcoin was worth five dollars – and two years later it managed to take off thanks to signing agreements with Dell, Expedia or Time to accept payments in bitcoins. Coinbase, which already allows operations in 50 different digital assets, has become the second most relevant crypto-asset exchange platform, according to data from CoinMarketCap, and has promoted its democratization, by allowing buying and selling operations easily via mobile.
Coinbase has chosen to make a listing for its trading debut, with which there was no prior placement of shares. Among its shareholders are its founders, Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, and the funds that have financed its growth such as Wellington Management, Tiger Global Management, True Capital, IVP, Fundamental Labs and the vehicle of the Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ.
The Coinbase market premiere will also lead to succulent latent capital gains for BBVA, should it decide to remain in its capital. The entity chaired by Carlos Torres entered the crypto-asset exchange platform in 2015 through its venture capital business, Propel, and has, according to sources from the entity, a “stake significantly less than 1%.” The bank participated in a series C funding round in which Coinbase raised $ 75 million.
The premiere of the firm has in turn boosted the price of crypto assets. Bitcoin has reached $ 64,000 and has more than doubled in value so far this year, while Ether has momentarily touched $ 2,400.
In the first quarter of the year, the company achieved revenues of 1.8 billion dollars, 844% more than those registered 12 months before, thanks mainly to the rebound in cryptocurrencies. In all of 2020, its turnover was 1,100 million dollars. Its net profit will be, according to its preliminary results, between 730 and 800 million dollars until March, more than double that of everything earned in 2020. 96% of the income it achieves comes from the commissions it charges for the sale. of these assets.
The platform has 6.1 million active users, while verified users, those with Coinbase accounts, rose from 43 million at the end of December to 56 million at the end of the first quarter of this year. At the end of March, it had $ 223 billion in assets under management.
Figures that, from now on, will be under public scrutiny. A month ago, the company agreed to pay a fine of 6.5 million dollars to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission of the United States (CFTC), which had accused it of giving false information about its transactions.
Its stock market premiere is seen by the defenders of crypto assets as a legitimation of the sector, while the rest point with suspicion to the extreme volatility of bitcoin and other assets, which will foreseeably affect the evolution of the Coinbase Stock Market. In fact, the firm recognizes in its IPO brochure that its income is “substantially dependent on the prices of crypto assets and the volume of transactions carried out” and points out that 56% of its net income comes from bitcoin and ethereum transactions.