"We are building the cryptoeconomy — a more fair, accessible, efficient, and transparent financial system for the internet age that leverages crypto assets: digital assets built using blockchain technology." - Coinbase Global Inc.
Coinbase Global Inc, the largest U.S. Cryptocurrency exchange has announced that it expects to go public next week 14/April/2021. Coinbase started in 2012 with the mission that "anyone, anywhere, should be able to easily and securely send and receive bitcoin, the first crypto asset."
Critical and sceptical Analysts from JPMorgan — have said that the Bitcoin could climb as high as $130,000 over the long term if it continues to see its volatility converge with that of gold. In a note to clients, JPMorgan analysts wrote
"Considering how big the financial investment into gold is, any such crowding out of gold as an alternative currency implies a big upside for bitcoin over the long term... Mechanically, the bitcoin price would have to rise $130,000, to match the total private sector investment in gold."
Other long term critics of Bitcoin like Warren Buffett and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have labelled them as "risky", "worthless" and "extremely inefficient." These criticisms nonetheless have not prevented more and more companies from accepting cryptocurrency as an official payment option such as PayPal, Yum Brands (which operates KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill) accepts cryptocurrencies as a valid payment method. Home Depot accepts Bitcoin payments through Flexa’s checkout systems. Travel giant Expedia has catered to the purchase of flights and travel with Bitcoin.
With the growing acceptance of cryptocurrencies, momentum has returned to the cryptocurrency market which could be easily perceived as the motivation for Coinbase going public in April 2021.
Coinbase’s direct listing will be Nasdaq’s first major direct listing and it plans to register about 115 million shares of Class A common stock. A direct listing means that Coinbase won’t be putting up any new stock. Existing shareholders will be able to sell their shares to new investors. Coinbase was valued at about $90 billion in its final week of trading on Nasdaq’s private market.
So what's all the hype about - what does all this mean?
The crypto-verse is evolving and many companies are apt to ride on the coattails of its continued adoption. We can safely assume that major companies and their e-commerce platforms will continue to accept cryptocurrencies as valid payment methods with countries rumoured to be joining the crypto-verse with their own digital currencies.
We are deep in speculation at this point - watching closely as Coinbase and its potential market debut have gained a lot of attention. On April 14 2021, we will see the wider ramifications of this chess play.