Coinbase is moving towards an IPO. This was announced by the exchange on its own channels, confirming that it has filed the application with the SEC.
Specifically, Coinbase has filed the application called Form S-1 which is the first step in order to be listed on the stock market.
The announcement is rather brief and says nothing in particular, simply adding that it will be necessary to wait for the SEC to complete its review process.
The crypto world has congratulated Coinbase on its choice. Among the first is Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, who tweeted:
“The first but certainly not the last!’ Big congrats to the Coinbase team on this milestone in their growth”.
Congratulations also came from David Marcus, leading the Diem project, formerly known as Libra.
Erik Voorhees, CEO of ShapeShift, praised the timing:
Nailed the timing. Congratulations guys and good luck with this! https://t.co/yv9hnZbehn
— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) December 17, 2020
Coinbase IPO, but users don’t care
The curious thing is that under the tweet with the announcement the comments were quite different. In fact, many users took advantage of a highly visible announcement to expose their problems with the exchange.
Many users complained of not being able to log in, or having their accounts blocked.
Others have confirmed that they are unable to trade when the market experiences periods of high volatility, as has happened in recent days when Bitcoin’s price hit a record high.
The requests have been so massive that Coinbase support has intervened to respond.
What is an IPO
IPO stands for Initial Public Offering and is the process by which companies go public by offering their shares for sale.
Companies that go public usually do so in order to raise cash from the sale of shares. Doing an IPO also means getting new investors.
In the US, the first procedure to go public is to file an application with the SEC, a kind of registration. The listing cannot take place without the green light from the authority.
The IPO and subsequent listing on the stock exchange, while representing a choice of visibility and prestige, is in reality a very delicate step because it involves many requirements such as corporate governance rules and various audits.
However, Coinbase is making history by being the first cryptocurrency company to take a decisive step towards the traditional markets.
