Coinbase, which is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, announced on Thursday that it will list its stocks publicly by way of a direct listing.
With a direct listing, the company will list its existing shares on the Stock Exchange , and unlike the popular initial public offering (IPO), no new shares are created and no underwriters are involved.
The crypto exchange detailed that it proposed a direct listing of its Class A common stock.
The confirmation came more than a month after the US crypto exchange confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, that S-1 form is not yet available in the public domain.
“The Form S-1 is expected to become effective after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions,” the exchange recently stated.
A Crypto Mammoth Going Public
Founded in 2012, Coinbase became the largest cryptocurrency exchange and wallet provider in the United States. The company was valued at $8 billion in its last funding round in October 2018, only a year after it surpassed the $1 billion valuation mark.
The San Francisco-based exchange expanded its services aggressively over the years and acquired many crypto companies, the most recent one being blockchain infrastructure firm, Bison Trails.
Last week, Coinbase revealed that assets on the platform surpassed $90 billion, mostly due to the recent bull market triggered by the institutional adoption. The number of user accounts on the platform surpassed 43 million in over 100 countries. However, it is not clear how many of those accounts are active or funded.
Despite the confirmation of the public listing, the financials of the company is not public yet, nor the current valuation of the company is known. Blockchain research company, Messari earlier estimated that Coinbase could be valued at as much as $28 billion upon public listing.
