Coinbase Goes Public With Initial Valuation Topping $100B

Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, which sponsors several cryptocurrency funds, likened the Coinbase debut to the IPO of Facebook, which went public at about $100 billion. Like Facebook, Coinbase is "tapping into a large new market …. in a breakthrough industry," Hougan said.

The Coinbase listing paves the way for investors who want to own crypto assets in a more traditional way, via a publicly traded stock.

"It can be challenging to own crypto assets, but here is a large liquid pure play company that sits at the center of an emerging crypto economy," said Hougan. 'You will see more listing and more interest. This is a wake up call for a lot of traditional investors about how large and how fast growing the crypto ecosystem has become. "

Alex Tapscott, managing director of digital asset group at Ninepoint Partners, an asset manager  based in Toronto, Ontario, said,  "A new asset class has emerged that will only accelerate interest and adoption of Bitcoin and crypto assets."

Coinbase debuted on the Nasdaq as a direct listing rather than an IPO or SPAC, which means there were no intermediaries like investment bank underwriters involved before and no lockup period after. Its CEO, Brian Armstrong, told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin that he chose that route because he wanted  there to be "a true market on day one that set the price… a price that the market had decided."

By 2:54 p.m., the market decided that Coinbase, which had started trading less than two hours before, was worth $336 a share. It closed at $328.28.

(Photo: Bloomberg)