Bitcoin firm Coinbase, a pandemicera hit, plans IPO
San Francisco’s Coinbase announced Thursday that it confidentially filed for a public offering as bitcoin prices surge to alltime highs.
Coinbase, a digital exchange that allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrency, said that it submitted a draft registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for review. It did not offer any other details beyond the announcement, and Coinbase declined to comment further to The Chronicle.
If it follows through on the plans, Coinbase would be the latest in a string of Bay Area companies to go public; recent IPOs include Airbnb, Doordash and Wish.
The filing came as renewed interest in cryptocurrency sent the price of bitcoin to an alltime high, hurtling past $ 23,000 on Thursday — a 200% increase this year. Like other instruments used to store value in times of uncertainty, bitcoin has benefited from the pandemic, which has also pushed other commodities like gold, silver and platinum to multiyear highs.
Founded in 2012 by Fred Ehrsam and Brian Armstrong, Coinbase allows users to buy or sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, LiteCoin, Ethereum, Ripple and more. Other crypto exchanges in the U. S. include Gemini and Kraken.
Initially dismissed as a fad and a place to park illegal money, cryptocurrency has steadily gained wider acceptance among everyday investors despite the high risks and volatility involved in trades.
In the midst of the current market rally, Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, urged caution in a company blog post on Wednesday as bitcoin prices topped $ 20,000.
“While it’s great to see ... news organizations turn attention to this emerging asset class in a new way, we cannot emphasize enough how important it is to understand that investing in crypto is not without risk,” he said.
Armstrong faced an outcry in September after writing about the virtues of an “apolitical” work environment — including asking employees to refrain from talking about politics and social issues on the job, in contrast to the activism or discussion embraced by some other tech companies following a summer of racial justice protests. Some employees opted for severance packages instead of continuing to work at the company.
The company’s last funding round of $ 300 million valued it at $ 8 billion. Since 2012, Coinbase has raised a total of $ 547.3 million, according to Crunchbase, a startup tracker.
If the SEC approves Coinbase’s plans, it would be a stamp of approval for backers of digital currency, who have long sought mainstream recognition.