Coinbase valuation likely to hit $100B

IPO total would eclipse value of NYSE and Nasdaq combined.

Coinbase Global, the fast-growing exchange at the center of the speculative frenzy in cryptocurrencies, is expected to go public this week at a staggering valuation of about $100 billion. That’s more than the venerable New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market combined — for a company that didn’t even exist a decade ago.

If all goes according to plan, Wednesday’s scheduled direct listing on Nasdaq will cement Coinbase’s position as the Big Board of the U.S. crypto scene and a potent symbol of the risks and rewards of the new era of digital money. Its founders, Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, own stakes worth $15 billion and $2 billion, respectively, according to Bloomberg estimates.

The San Francisco-based exchange said last week it expects to report first-quarter profit of $730 million to $800 million, more than double what it earned in all of 2020. And revenue in the first three months of 2021 probably surpassed all of the $1.3 billion total for last year. (Nasdaq generated $5.6 billion in revenue last year).

Coinbase has 56 million verified users and adds about 13,000 new retail customers a day, according to cryptocurrency analytics firm Messari.

The opportunity for Coinbase now is to capture the increasing number of institutional and corporate customers, such as Microstrategy and Tesla, that are buying Bitcoin for the long haul.

Coinbase cofounder Brian Armstrong owns a stake worth an estimated $15B.