By 
Coinbase Global Inc. plans to go public in a highly anticipated direct listing on April 14, the U.S.’s largest cryptocurrency exchange said Thursday.
Coinbase
COIN,
+3.70%,
founded in 2012, provides a range of services for institutional and retail clients in the crypto markets. It has grown to a company with about 1,200 employees and 43 million customers in more than 100 countries. In 2020, it brought in $1.3 billion in revenue and turned a profit of $322 million.
It isn’t clear how much money Coinbase will raise in the offering. In private markets, shares had recently changed hands at a price that would give the company a valuation of $67.6 billion, it disclosed in a regulatory filing. Whatever it does raise will be added to the $1 billion in cash the company has on hand, giving it a big war chest to ride bitcoin’s notorious ups and downs.
Coinbase’s fortunes are closely intertwined with bitcoin, the digital currency launched more than a decade ago. Fully 96% of Coinbase’s revenue comes from transaction fees, which means the company benefits when bitcoin is in one of its frantic trading phases. In 2019, a down year for bitcoin, the company lost $31 million.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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