This Wednesday, Coinbase finally got listed on Nasdaq under the ticker COIN with over a $100 billion valuation. After trading at almost $430 that day, its share price is currently down at $322.75.

The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US has announced a giveaway of $1.5 million in Bitcoin to celebrate the event.

This comes as no surprise given that in its Q1 2021 results, Coinbase had shared that it will “meaningfully increase” its investment in sales and marketing. “We plan for sales and marketing to be between 12% and 15% of net revenue in 2021,” to augment our historically strong organic growth with customer acquisition, it said at the time.

To expand its customer base to past 56 million, Coinbase has announced this giveaway which only applies to new users but doesn’t require any new purchase to be made.

To participate in the giveaway, new users need to sign up for an account at Coinbase.com before April 22nd and be verified as well. The reward of $1.5 million is divided into three parts, 1 winner will receive 500k in bitcoin, 10 winners will get $50k in BTC, and 5000 winners will be receiving $100 in BTC.

However, the crypto community was quick to point out Coinbase’s promotion isn’t much different from all the scams that plague the cryptocurrency market.

“Be on the lookout for scammers. We will only notify you about prizes via [email protected]. See a fraudulent giveaway? Report it to [email protected],” is the exchange's important security notice.

In other news, banks just can’t stop giving their users more reasons for why they need crypto. As we reported recently, HSBC is not allowing its customers to buy shares in MicroStrategy because of its involvement in crypto. And their changed stance on cryptocurrencies applies to COIN as well.

“HSBC has no appetite for direct exposure to virtual currencies and limited appetite to facilitate products or securities that derive their value from virtual currencies. This is not a new policy,” HSBC Corporate Media Relations Manager Ankit Patel told Coindesk on the matter.

HSBC is the largest bank in Europe with total assets of $2.715 trillion.

While some big banks like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and BNY Mellon are working towards providing their clients exposure to crypto, others like HSBC and Barclays continue to keep away from anything crypto.

During a recent IPO roadshow for Model, a mobile bitcoin app that is listed on London Stock Exchange, both the banks said they won’t allow the firm’s share on their respective platform due to the crypto element.

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