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比特币公司Coinbase宣布IPO,加密货币新时代到来

比特币公司Coinbase宣布IPO,加密货币新时代到来

JEFF JOHN ROBERTS 2020-12-18
至于美国证券交易委员会是否最终会批准这样的安排,还远未可知。

12月17日,加密货币巨头Coinbase宣布已秘密申请首次公开募股,成为新一家寻求在今年进行IPO的知名初创公司。

Coinbase成立于2012年,最初业务是提供消费者购买比特币的简易渠道。之后,Coinbase逐步演变为加密相关业务的大型企业集团、行业领军者,与此同时,该公司也长期受到监管机构和传统金融机构的质疑。

Coinbase宣布这一消息,正值IPO市场和加密货币价格都格外火热之时。目前,比特币价格已接近创纪录的23500美元,同时交易量也在激增——这对Coinbase等公司来说是个好消息,因为Coinbase的大部分收入来自交易手续费。

Coinbase在其公司博客上发布的IPO公告中,并未透露IPO的细节安排。传统的IPO一般由银行安排机构以固定价格优先认购股票,而这一模式可能会让加密货币爱好者和Coinbase员工感到厌恶。

在最近的一次采访中,Coinbase联合创始人弗雷德•埃尔萨姆告诉《财富》称,从“精神上”来看,Coinbase将通过发行区块链数字代币上市。区块链是一种分类账本技术,是比特币的基础。在加密货币爱好者看来,区块链是金融基础设施建设的未来。

然而,至于美国证券交易委员会是否最终会批准这样的安排,还远未可知。如果委员会拒绝了这种操作,寻求直接上市、直接向公众出售股票则是Coinbase的另一个选择。这种模式最近被Spotify和Slack采用。资深科技记者亚历克斯•威廉指出,Coinbase是此类上市模式的“典型的”候选者,部分原因在于,公司的资产负债已经十分庞大。

Coinbase没有立即回应有关其上市性质的询问。

Coinbase尚未透露公司盈利情况。但接近Coinbase的消息人士表示,该公司近年来盈利已常态化。该公司在上一轮融资中筹资3亿美元,对其估值接近80亿美元。但这些都已经是2018年的数据,这两年加密货币市场持续蓬勃发展,加上最近IPO需求激增,Coinbase可能会寻求更高的估值。

Coinbase的IPO将给包括首席执行官布莱恩•阿姆斯特朗和风投公司安德森•霍洛维茨在内的早期股东带来套现的机会。此次IPO也意味着加密行业一直以来寻求合法性的路途中,终于立上了一个里程碑。

Coinbase成立之初,许多人对比特币不屑一顾,认为它只是一种短暂的时尚,而许多官方机构则认为比特币主要是犯罪和洗钱的工具。尽管一些决策者(包括特朗普在内)一直对数字货币怀有敌意,但过去两年间,主流机构对数字货币的接受度呈现激增态势。今年,由联合创始人Ehrsam运营的一个新的加密基金还吸引了来自哈佛大学和斯坦福大学等捐赠基金的投资。

与此同时,Coinbase近年来进行了数十次收购,以帮助其实现收入模式多样化,而不仅仅来自于交易手续费。收购内容包括托管业务,即向客户收取安全存储大量加密货币的托管费用。

不过,Coinbase最近一直受争议困扰,原因是该公司首席执行官阿姆斯特朗发表了一篇博客文章,宣布Coinbase是一家“不关心政治的”公司,而这篇文章发表时,正值“黑人的命也是命”(Black Lives Matter)抗议活动爆发,社会动荡不安之时,许多人认为文章作者对社会现状置若罔闻、麻木不仁。上个月,《纽约时报》发表了一篇文章,指出大量黑人员工离开Coinbase,其中一些人引述了同事的种族主义态度,争议进一步加剧。

过去几个月,Coinbase似乎一直在为IPO做准备,公司董事会进行了一系列人事调整。最近,该公司将思科首席财务官凯利•克莱默纳入董事会,并将硅谷资深投资者马克•安德森提拔为正式董事会成员。(财富中文网)

编译:杨二一

12月17日,加密货币巨头Coinbase宣布已秘密申请首次公开募股,成为新一家寻求在今年进行IPO的知名初创公司。

Coinbase成立于2012年,最初业务是提供消费者购买比特币的简易渠道。之后,Coinbase逐步演变为加密相关业务的大型企业集团、行业领军者,与此同时,该公司也长期受到监管机构和传统金融机构的质疑。

Coinbase宣布这一消息,正值IPO市场和加密货币价格都格外火热之时。目前,比特币价格已接近创纪录的23500美元,同时交易量也在激增——这对Coinbase等公司来说是个好消息,因为Coinbase的大部分收入来自交易手续费。

Coinbase在其公司博客上发布的IPO公告中,并未透露IPO的细节安排。传统的IPO一般由银行安排机构以固定价格优先认购股票,而这一模式可能会让加密货币爱好者和Coinbase员工感到厌恶。

在最近的一次采访中,Coinbase联合创始人弗雷德•埃尔萨姆告诉《财富》称,从“精神上”来看,Coinbase将通过发行区块链数字代币上市。区块链是一种分类账本技术,是比特币的基础。在加密货币爱好者看来,区块链是金融基础设施建设的未来。

然而,至于美国证券交易委员会是否最终会批准这样的安排,还远未可知。如果委员会拒绝了这种操作,寻求直接上市、直接向公众出售股票则是Coinbase的另一个选择。这种模式最近被Spotify和Slack采用。资深科技记者亚历克斯•威廉指出,Coinbase是此类上市模式的“典型的”候选者,部分原因在于,公司的资产负债已经十分庞大。

Coinbase没有立即回应有关其上市性质的询问。

Coinbase尚未透露公司盈利情况。但接近Coinbase的消息人士表示,该公司近年来盈利已常态化。该公司在上一轮融资中筹资3亿美元,对其估值接近80亿美元。但这些都已经是2018年的数据,这两年加密货币市场持续蓬勃发展,加上最近IPO需求激增,Coinbase可能会寻求更高的估值。

Coinbase的IPO将给包括首席执行官布莱恩•阿姆斯特朗和风投公司安德森•霍洛维茨在内的早期股东带来套现的机会。此次IPO也意味着加密行业一直以来寻求合法性的路途中,终于立上了一个里程碑。

Coinbase成立之初,许多人对比特币不屑一顾,认为它只是一种短暂的时尚,而许多官方机构则认为比特币主要是犯罪和洗钱的工具。尽管一些决策者(包括特朗普在内)一直对数字货币怀有敌意,但过去两年间,主流机构对数字货币的接受度呈现激增态势。今年,由联合创始人Ehrsam运营的一个新的加密基金还吸引了来自哈佛大学和斯坦福大学等捐赠基金的投资。

与此同时,Coinbase近年来进行了数十次收购,以帮助其实现收入模式多样化,而不仅仅来自于交易手续费。收购内容包括托管业务,即向客户收取安全存储大量加密货币的托管费用。

不过,Coinbase最近一直受争议困扰,原因是该公司首席执行官阿姆斯特朗发表了一篇博客文章,宣布Coinbase是一家“不关心政治的”公司,而这篇文章发表时,正值“黑人的命也是命”(Black Lives Matter)抗议活动爆发,社会动荡不安之时,许多人认为文章作者对社会现状置若罔闻、麻木不仁。上个月,《纽约时报》发表了一篇文章,指出大量黑人员工离开Coinbase,其中一些人引述了同事的种族主义态度,争议进一步加剧。

过去几个月,Coinbase似乎一直在为IPO做准备,公司董事会进行了一系列人事调整。最近,该公司将思科首席财务官凯利•克莱默纳入董事会,并将硅谷资深投资者马克•安德森提拔为正式董事会成员。(财富中文网)

编译:杨二一

Cryptocurrency giant Coinbase announced on Thursday that it has confidentially filed for a public offering, becoming the latest in a parade of high-profile startups to pursue an IPO in 2020.

Founded in 2012 as a simple way for consumers to purchase Bitcoin, Coinbase has since become a conglomerate of crypto-related business and the standard-bearer for an industry long regarded with suspicion by regulators and the traditional financial establishment.

Coinbase’s announcement comes at a time when both the IPO market and cryptocurrency prices are red-hot. The price of Bitcoin is currently near a record $23,500, and trading volumes are surging—a boon for firms like Coinbase, which makes the bulk of its revenue from trading commissions.

In its IPO announcement, which came in a company blog post, Coinbase did not provide details about how it would structure its offering. A traditional IPO, whereby banks arrange for institutions to get first dibs on the stock for a fixed price, would likely be anathema to many crypto enthusiasts and Coinbase employees.

In a recent interview, Coinbase cofounder Fred Ehrsam told Fortune the company is “spiritually” built to go public via an offering involving digital tokens on a blockchain—the ledger technology that underpins Bitcoin, and which crypto enthusiasts view as the future of financial infrastructure.

It’s far from clear, however, whether the Securities and Exchange Commission would sign off on such an arrangement. If the agency refuses to do so, another option would be for Coinbase to pursue a direct listing in which it sells shares directly to the public. This model was recently employed by Spotify and Slack, and veteran tech journalist Alex Wilhelm has noted that Coinbase is an “archetypal” candidate for such a listing, in part because of its hefty balance sheet.

Coinbase did not immediately respond to queries about the nature of listing it would pursue.

The company has yet to reveal how much money it is making, though sources close to Coinbase say it has regularly turned a profit in recent years. The company’s last fundraising round, for $300 million, valued it near $8 billion. That figure, however, is from 2018, and it’s likely Coinbase will seek a much higher valuation owing to the booming crypto market and the recent surge in demand for IPOs.

Coinbase’s IPO will give its early shareholders, including CEO Brian Armstrong and venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, an opportunity to cash out. But it will also represent a milestone in the crypto industry’s long-running quest for legitimacy.

When Coinbase launched, many dismissed Bitcoin as a fad, while many government officials regarded it as primarily a vehicle for crime and money laundering. While some policymakers—and President Trump—continue to treat the digital currency with hostility, the past two years have seen a surge in acceptance by mainstream institutions. Indeed, a new crypto fund run by cofounder Ehrsam has attracted investments from the likes of the endowments of Harvard and Stanford universities.

Meanwhile, Coinbase has made dozens of acquisitions in recent years to help its diversify its revenue model beyond trading fees. This has included buying custody operations, which involve charging clients to safely store large amounts of cryptocurrency.

The company has been dogged by recent controversy, however, related to a decision by CEO Armstrong to publish a blog post declaring Coinbase to be an “apolitical” company. The post came in the midst of upheaval related to the Black Lives Matter protests and was regarded by many as tone deaf and insensitive. The controversy gained further traction last month when the New York Times published a piece describing how numerous Black employees had left Coinbase, with some of them citing racist attitudes among their coworkers.

In the past few months, Coinbase appears to have been laying groundwork for its IPO with a series of boardroom shuffles. The most recent of these involved adding Cisco CFO Kelly Kramer to its board and elevating the veteran Silicon Valley investor Marc Andreessen to full board member status.

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