Coinbase shares jumped 11% in early trading on Thursday, a day after the cryptocurrency exchange went public in a high-profile debut on the Nasdaq that briefly valued it at more than $100 billion.
The debut, done through a direct listing where no shares are sold ahead of the opening, marked another milestone for bitcoin and other digital assets and came amid a surge in the value of cryptocurrencies that has lured a clutch of mainstream, top-tier firms.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said to Reuters: “At some point, there will be a normalization in the transaction levels (in cryptocurrencies) and that’s exactly what traditional investors are looking to understand – are these levels normal? Probably not.”