Analysts at Messari estimate that the exchange could have a valuation of $28 billion.
Coinbase has fired the starting gun on an initial public offering and has sent a draft registration to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The exchange confirmed the news in a blog post, and its draft registration statement is now set to be subject to a review process.
This is a big deal — not least because this would be the first major crypto brand to go public in the wake of unprecedented institutional demand for Bitcoin.
And according to analysis from Messari, Coinbase could end up commanding a hefty valuation… far beyond the $8 billion it was worth back in October 2018.
It estimates that Coinbase will generate revenues of about $1.6 billion this year — mostly from trading fees. Assuming that the company trades at between 12 and 20 times earnings, this would result in a market cap of between $19 billion and $32 billion… with a probability-weighted average of $28 billion.
Noting that there is positive momentum in the industry right now, Mira Christanto wrote:
“The market has shown that investors are hungry for crypto exposure through equity markets… Coinbase would be the largest crypto player to list, providing a valuation anchor not only for future listings in the crypto space but also for crypto-native exchange tokens.”
Rumors that Coinbase was readying itself for an IPO first emerged back in July.
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