Coinbase Confidentially Files IPO Paperwork with SEC

Coinbase, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the US, recently filed IPO paperwork confidentially with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm has raised $525 million from the market to date with an $8 billion valuation.

Coinbase eyeing an IPO

Crypto exchange and brokerage Coinbase is finally moving ahead in the direction of its IPO. The San Francisco-based company informed the public today that it has filed a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the US SEC. The documents were filed confidentially because of which details regarding the offering like the number of shares and their price is not known.

The form will only go into effect after an SEC review. If the SEC doesn’t sign the documents for the creation and underwriting of new shares to the public, the company will still have the option to go public. It can go ahead with a direct listing in which no new shares will be created or underwritten. Only the old shares of the company will be available for sale.

Rival firm Bitfinex’s CTO Paolo Ardoino commented on the listing and said,

“Coinbase’s arrival on Wall Street is also somewhat ironic as it is now tech, and crypto, where the brightest minds are gravitating. In the past, this had been almost the exclusive preserve of Wall Street.”

A compliant crypto firm

Coinbase has always focused on compliance. The firm currently serves 35 million users and employs 500 people, making it one of the most popular crypto platforms in the world. Coinbase has raised $525.3 million to date, of which the last funding round brought in $300 million in 2019. The firm earned a revenue of $16 million in 2016 which blew up to $923 million in 2017 amidst the crypto boom. The same year, it reported a profit of $380 million. According to estimates, its revenue dropped to $520 million in the following year.