Coinbase stock continues on front foot after premium market debut

Coinbase Global Inc (NYSE:COIN) stock was again on the front foot in Thursday’s early deal after racing to a premium following its Nasdaq debut. The stock was up 2.78% changing hands at US$338.20. It comes after the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange rose to a peak of US$429.54 per share shortly after trading in the newly listed stock began and ended the session at US$328.28. As widely predicted, this marked a significant premium to the US$250 per share reference price set prior to Wednesday’s float. Coinbase describes its platform as “the easiest place to buy and sell cryptocurrency”. Launched in 2012 by founder and chief executive Brian Armstrong, now aged 38, Coinbase became established in the early days of cryptocurrency trading. It allows its customers to exchange bitcoin and the gamut of cryptos including Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin, Dogecoin and many others. Like a stock market brokerage platform it charges customers a transaction fee. It also provides crypto-wallet services which essentially allows customers to ‘store’ their crypto assets.  At the same time, it provides business-to-business services including prime brokerage and custody, drawing further parallels to a stockbroking business model. Whilst the customer-facing services are akin to a brokerage, others prefer to compare Bitcoin to exchanges like the Nasdaq, CME or the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). Wednesday’s stock market debut comes via a ‘direct listing’ which means now new shares were sold and new news funds were raised via IPO, instead only existing shares are being sold on the market.