Today is April 14, the day that Coinbase is slated to hit the stock market. Everyone has been talking about this for some time, and the move is expected to bring the cryptocurrency market even deeper into mainstream territory. As a result of the exchange’s first trading week arriving so fast, the price of bitcoin has jumped beyond the $60,000 mark, and many think the asset is likely to go even higher as trading progresses.
Coinbase Is Now Public, and Bitcoin Reacts Positively
Thus far, the company has garnered approximately $800 million in profit throughout the year. This is more than the $322 million it made in 2020. During that period, the company pulled in revenue equaling roughly $1.3 billion. Throughout the first three months of this year, the revenue earned by Coinbase exceeded $335 billion. It just goes to show you how many people are trading and how big the entire industry has become.
In a statement, the trading platform explained:
Crypto markets have observed four major price cycles since 2010 which have typically had durations ranging from two to four years. On average, these price cycles have increased the overall crypto market capitalization significantly from the prior cycle and attracted new users into the crypto economy. These cycles can be highly volatile, and as a result, we measure our performance over price cycles in lieu of quarterly results. We believe that we can create long-term value throughout these price cycles.
Many believe that Coinbase going public is going to be the start of something huge; something similar with the internet boom of the early 90s, only this time, the technological focus will be blockchain and crypto. Keld van Schreven – managing director and co-founder of KR1 – said in a recent interview:
The Coinbase IPO is the Netscape moment for crypto in the wider public markets and will light a fire under all crypto assets and especially public market stocks related to crypto. The IPO is also a big opportunity for Coinbase user growth as the hype and PR generated will for sure onboard even more users in the IPO and subsequent stock price increase.
Pete Flint – founder of venture capital firm NFX – offered similar sentiment in a discussion with reporters, claiming:
The Netscape IPO marked the beginning of the dotcom boom. The Coinbase [float] will mark the beginning of the blockchain boom.
Not Everyone Is a Believer
However, while many analysts seem to think that Coinbase is headed for success, others believe that the trading platform will not be able to hold a candle to bitcoin’s ever-increasing price, and that the trading platform will ultimately come up short. One of those individuals is David Trainer, the chief executive of investment research firm New Constructs. He says:
Even though Coinbase’s revenue surged over the past 12 months, the company has little to no chance of meeting the future profit expectations that are baked into its ridiculously-high expected valuation of $100 billion.
