New York. Going public is usually a complex undertaking: You have to approach potential investors at road shows. Investment banks are exploring what price buyers are willing to pay. Then there is a subscription period within which one can acquire new shares. And a few days later, the shares will be traded on the stock exchange for the first time.
Coinbase works differently. The largest US trading platform for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin wants to bring its shares directly to the New York tech exchange Nasdaq. Coinbase generated sales of $ 1.3 billion in 2020, more than twice as much as in the previous year. The Californian company also made it into the black, making a bottom line profit of $ 322 million after a loss of $ 30 million the year before. Coinbase claims to have 43 million users, 2.8 million of whom carry out transactions at least once a month.
Coinbase had already applied for a so-called direct placement with the SEC in January. The papers are brought directly to the stock exchange without the accompaniment of investment banks and a prior pricing process. Other larger companies such as the music service Spotify or the office chat app Slack have already been successful with this rather unusual, but cheaper variant.
Coinbase has thus set the course for the premiere of a large US Bitcoin exchange on the public capital market. However, it is still unclear when exactly this will happen. (APA / red.)
