Coinbase Files For IPO With Bitcoin At All-Time Highs

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase confirmed Thursday it filed for an IPO.

What Happened: Coinbase announced in a blog post it has confidentially submitted its registration for an IPO by filing its S-1.

Coinbase last raised funds in 2018 at an $8 billion valuation. The company was valued at $1.6 billion in 2017.

Investors in the company include Tiger Global, Andreessen Horowitz, New York Stock Exchange, BBVA and former Citigroup C CEO Vikram Pandit.

Why It’s Important: The IPO of Coinbase comes as Bitcoin prices hit all-time highs and crossed $20,000 on Wednesday.

This would mark the first major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange to go public and could be a landmark victory of bringing cryptocurrency more mainstream.

The company’s platform saw connection problems due to congestion on Wednesday, which could show the strong demand from Coinbase users.

In July, Reuters said Coinbase was considering a direct listing over a traditional IPO. Coinbase had also been linked to several large SPACs recently.

Shares of Bitcoin trade at $23,286 at the time of writing.

See Also: Will Bitcoin 'Rise 50% And Possibly Double' In 2021? These Pros Think So

Benzinga’s Take: The company to watch could be Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria BBVA, whose BBVA arm began investing in Coinbase back in 2015.

“We need to better understand the industry and understand how merchants and consumers are interacting with bitcoin,” BBVA Ventures Executive Director Jay Reinemann told CoinDesk at the time.

The 2015 round valued Coinbase at $400 million. With the listing expected to price above the $8 billion valuation from its last round and see strong demand with the rise of Bitcoin, this funding could pay off nicely for BBVA.