Yesterday cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase debuted on the Nasdaq stock market, closing at $328.28, valuing the company at $84 billion. Instead of an initial public offering, the company opted for a direct listing without issuing any new shares.
How does the stock price compare to private market prices before the listing? According to Coinbase, for the first quarter through to 15 March 2021, the weighted price was $343.58.
Some large institutions don’t hold Bitcoin cryptocurrency directly, so they look for surrogates such as futures, ETFs (which don’t yet exist for bitcoin in the U.S.) or stocks with a high correlation to the Bitcoin price. For example, software company Microstrategy borrowed significant sums to buy Bitcoin and hold it on its balance sheet. A large proportion of its price is linked to the price of Bitcoin. Since that move, 38% of its stock has been acquired by Blackrock, Morgan Stanley, and Vanguard.
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