Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase made a scorching stock market debut Wednesday amid frenzied interest in bitcoin and other virtual currencies despite concerns about a bubble.
The enterprise, the first company devoted entirely to cryptocurrency to enter the US stock exchange, immediately garnered an overall market valuation of $100 billion, bigger than that of General Motors and Best Buy and not far below Goldman Sachs.
Coinbase opened on the Nasdaq at $381 per share, 52 percent above its reference price and rising as high as $429.54. Near 1805 GMT, shares were at $365.69.
Coinbase chose a direct listing, which does not allow it to raise new funds but does offer current shareholders — founders, employees and historical investors — the opportunity to sell their shares on the market.
Spotify, Slack, Palantir and Roblox have also used this method for their Wall Street debuts.
Coinbase has benefited from bitcoin’s meteoric rise over the past year, with the crypto asset’s price rising from $6,500 last April to new records of as high as $64,000 Wednesday.
Other virtual currencies — such as ether, Litecoin or Stellar Lumens — have also surged in line with bitcoin.
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