Coinbase is readying itself to become the first cryptocurrency exchange listed on a US stock exchange

According to reports out of Reuters, Coinbase is planning on listing on a US stock exchange as soon as this year or early next year.

If this does indeed happen it would be the first time a cryptocurrency exchange went public in the United States.

At this point the actual plans are still unclear as the news is being leaked/confirmed by 3 anonymous sources but at this time Coinbase is yet to file any paperwork with the SEC.

Also, the SEC would need to green-light the listing for it to actually happen.

At this point both Coinbase and the SEC declined to comment on the news...

They likely wouldn't do an IPO...

According to the news coming out, it looks like Coinbase could list without doing an IPO.

An IPO is a traditional way for private companies to gain funding and a stock market listing, though the process can be expensive and long winded.

However, according to the sources, considering that Coinbase has already done several rounds of private funding (where they sold private shares), they could just list those shares publicly.

Where no additional shares are sold.

This could possibly expedite the listing process. Though, also keep in mind that due to all the extra regulations and scrutiny surrounding cryptocurrency exchanges/companies there may be a couple other regulators that want to review as well...

During Coinbase's latest round of fundraising, it was valued at roughly $8 billion.

This was back in 2018 and since that time several material developments have happened since then, including new coins being listed as well as custody services for institutional clients, such as Grayscale.

This would be very good for crypto...

On the surface this isn't a massive development, but it would help the crypto industry in several ways.

The most important one is that it would further legitimize the industry as a whole.

There are many people that are on the sidelines not wanting to invest in crypto due to the regulatory uncertainty surrounding it still.

Getting Coinbase listed on a large US stock exchange would be a nice windfall in the "legitimizing the industry" category.

Plus it would further keep the industry in the news, and as we know, free press is never a bad thing.

Also, many of the investors in Coinbase are crypto funds, crypto companies, and crypto investors.

A public listing will undoubtedly make the company much more valuable which will put more money in their pockets, possibly making that money more liquid as well.

And more money sloshing around in the crypto industry can only be a good thing.

I for one am hoping this happens and hopefully it happens sooner rather than later.

Stay informed my friends.

Image Source:

https://coingape.com/coinbase-ipo-stock-market-listing/

-Doc