Ahead of its debut on the NASDAQ stock exchange, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase reported that its first-quarter revenue climbed nine-fold from last year, driven by the rally in the price of Bitcoin.
Revenue in the period jumped to $1.8 billion U.S. from $190.6 million U.S. in the same quarter a year earlier, Coinbase said in a news release. Net income grew to between $730 million U.S. and $800 million U.S. from $31.9 million U.S. a year ago. Coinbase said it currently has 56 million users worldwide.
Coinbase is the latest technology company to debut on a stock market with a massive valuation. The company is currently valued at $68 billion U.S.
In the past seven months, software vendor Snowflake, food delivery app DoorDash (NYSE:DASH), room-sharing site Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) and gaming platform Roblox have all gone public. Each of their market capitalizations are currently between $40 billion U.S. and $113 billion U.S.
Coinbase’s valuation mirrors the price of cryptocurrencies, notably Bitcoin, which is up about 700% in the past year. Coinbase said last week that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved its direct listing on the NASDAQ that is scheduled to take place on April 14.
The company has said it plans to register nearly 115 million shares of Class A common stock, which will trade under ticker symbol "COIN." In a direct listing, the issuing company forgoes selling new stock and instead allows existing stakeholders to sell their shares to new investors.
