The Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price has again breached the US$60,000 mark. One Bitcoin is currently worth US$60,199 (AU$79,209).
That puts the world's largest crypto within 2.5% of its 14 March all time high of US$61,712. And it gives Bitcoin a market cap of US$1.12 trillion, according to data from CoinDesk. It also puts the Bitcoin price up almost 8% since last Thursday's lows.
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Will the Bitcoin price keep rising?
Now trying to guess Bitcoin's next price moves is akin to trying to guess the number of marbles or gumballs in one of those enormous carnival bowls. Good luck!
But over the longer haul, some analysts are expecting next week's Nasdaq IPO of Coinbase, which will carry the ticker (NASDAQ: COIN), to support Bitcoin's recent price surge.
Others point to Coinbase as a potentially safer alternative for investors looking to dip their toes into crypto assets.
How does investing in Coinbase offer exposure to crypto currencies?
Coinbase, if you're not familiar, is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States. The company generates much of its revenue from crypto transaction fees on its platform. And to give you an idea of how much crypto changes hands each day, over the past 24 hours some US$47.3 billion worth of Bitcoin was transacted.
Coinbase is going public this week via a direct listing. Meaning it won't raise any new capital. And existing shareholders of the private entity can commence trading shares on the first day of listing.
According to Bloomberg, Coinbase was valued at roughly US$90 billion in its last week of trading on Nasdaq's private market.
Greg Foss, chief financial officer for Validus Power Corp believes the IPO will offer investors an alternative into to directly investing in crypto currencies:
For a crypto investor that also buys stocks, it has the ability to diversify risks as there is a very profitable exchange platform that trades on another venue (stock exchange) whose flows of buyers and sellers can be less correlated than many crypto prices.
Foss adds that the Coinbase share price will likely remain subject to fluctuations in prices of cryptos like Bitcoin, " In a traditional stock portfolio it gives exposure to an exchange platform that generates trading fees on crypto. Those fees increase with volumes and volumes typically increase with prices, so there is a beta trade there."
Will the Coinbase IPO support Bitcoin investors?
Though there's no unanimous consensus (good luck finding that in the wild world of crypto investing), numerous analysts forecast the Coinbase's public listing will be positive for Bitcoin and other major crypto assets.
According to Kadan Stadelmann, CTO of Komodo (quoted by Markets Insider):
Going public is stepping into the big leagues. Crypto is becoming part of the traditional finance sector … This level of adoption seemed like a dream scenario just a year ago. A lot of users still keep funds on Coinbase and look at it as merely a trading platform. But more are beginning to wake up and understand that Coinbase is an important gateway to getting started in the crypto sector.
James Anderson, CEO of RioDeFi adds:
The growth and expansion of cryptocurrencies had always been at odds with the interests of traditional financial systems… The Coinbase direct listing unites these two sides of finance in the success of this licensed and regulated company. Traditional investors who purchase Coinbase stock will indirectly speculate on the crypto market and similarly, crypto traders who own Coinbase stocks will have a vested interest in the success of the company.
With the Bitcoin price already up more than 100% in 2021, and up more than 750% over the past 12 months, the impacts of the Coinbase IPO will be worth keeping an eye on.
