We’re stockpiling superlatives ahead of tomorrow’s public debut of Coinbase, the crypto firm that seems likely to start trading at a valuation well above $100 billion, making it one of the biggest new tech listings of the year. Just as a comparison, when Airbnb went public in December in what was one of last year’s hottest offerings, it was valued at $91 billion by the end of its first day of trading.
Coinbase should easily surpass that. The company disclosed it had traded at a high of $375 a share in the first quarter, valuing it at $97 billion. (The Nasdaq set a reference price of $250 a share tonight, as is typical for direct listings, although that’s unlikely to bear much relation to the opening price.) Perhaps a better indicator of market sentiment was a report today from MoffettNathanson, one of the more cerebral Wall Street research firms, which valued the shares at $600 each.