Coinbase listing has been considered a historic event in the crypto community. On April 14, one of the largest crypto exchange and trading platforms in the world made its debut on Nasdaq via a direct listing. The impact of this was a surge in crypto prices, with Bitcoin going up to $64,800 a day before the listing went live.

At the end of the first quarter, the company released its explosive report on its earnings. Trading volumes topped $335 billion in the Q1 which was massive in comparison to 2020’s trading volume which was $193 billion. Total assets on Coinbase’s platform increased from $90 billion to $223 billion, nearly a 150% increase quarter-over-quarter. Active users on Coinbase also jumped from 2.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 6.1 million in the first quarter of 2021.

Upon listing, COIN’s reference price was set at $250. Just minutes after it got listed, it surged to $430 before wrapping up its debut on Nasdaq at around $328. Since then, COIN has continued to range between $320 to $345.

For the crypto community, the listing of Coinbase on Nasdaq is an important event. It shows that cryptos have come to stay.

The listing is also a great indicator to regulators and financial experts who still believe that anything crypto is bad. Jelle Pol, project manager for oil and gas multinational Shell’s first three blockchain projects explained:

“COIN’s market capitalization now dwarfs the cumulative valuation of most of the world’s largest traditional stock exchanges, and they did it in years instead of decades. It is clear that they operate under the highest standards, otherwise, a Nasdaq listing would have been out of the question, so it seems that self-regulation, in this case, has paid off immensely.”

Since the listing, traditional institutional investors have also joined the party. New York-based asset management firm Ark Invest bought up more than 1 million shares, currently worth around $350 million.

Related Reading | Coinbase to Direct List on the Nasdaq on April 14th

It’s also worth mentioning that other venture capital firms such as Union Square and Andreessen Horowitz are some of the big backers behind Coinbase. Union Square invested in Coinbase at $0.20 a share, now worth more $4.6 billion. Horowitz owns about $9.7 billion in shares with Coinbase.

Insider activity also suggests that Coinbase employees and top executives have cashed in big since the listing.  Coinbase chief financial officer Alesia Haas sold some 255,500 shares at $388.73 per share while retaining certain options. Similarly, Brian Armstrong, the platform’s current CEO, sold 749,999 shares in three transactions at various prices, netting around $291 million. Despite this, the sellers still maintain strong ownership of their positions.

Independent investment research firm CFRA have noted that Coinbase stock value may potentially grow by almost 20+% in the near term. This is expected due to growing adoption of crypto-enabled solutions across the globe and the exposure to institutional investors.

The analysts at CFRA have given three possible scenarios for the COIN. First, it’s possible that the price falls to settle around $120. Second, the price may stabilize after hitting the $400 range. Third, the price of COIN may skyrocket to $840 in the event of a bull rally.

Related Reading | Coinbase to Direct List on the Nasdaq on April 14th 

A week after the Coinbase listing, a representative for the company announced that Nasdaq started trading options for Coinbase Global, COIN.O. This will be  effective from April 20.

As it stands, it appears that COIN is poised to rise as there are fewer hurdles stacked against a surge, especially considering the rate at which crypto is going mainstream.

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