Coinbase Files To Go Public

Digital currency wallet service Coinbase said in a blog post Thursday that it confidentially filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to go public.

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The San Francisco-based company, which enables traders to buy and sell bitcoin, didn’t go into specifics about how it planned to enter the public market–IPO or direct listing.

Back in July, Reuters reported that Coinbase was making plans to list and would be the first major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange to go public.

The move comes as the price of bitcoin rose to a record high on Thursday, topping $23,000 after passing the $20,000 milestone for the first time on Dec. 16.

A trend toward investing in cryptocurrency has also risen this year. There are 249 U.S. companies focused on cryptocurrency that received $5.6 billion in venture-backed funding in the past two years, according to Crunchbase data.

Meanwhile, also on Thursday, Paxos, a New York-based blockchain infrastructure platform, closed a $142 million Series C round of funding led by Declaration Partners.

Coinbase has raised $547.3 million in venture-backed funding since the company was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, according to Crunchbase data. The company hasn’t announced new VC investment since 2018, when it closed a $300 million Series E round of funding led by Tiger Global Management.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias