Coinbase Global Inc., the largest US-based cryptocurrency exchange, said it has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering, the first major bitcoin-focused company to test public markets.
The company announced the news in a blog post on Thursday afternoon.
The filing positions San Francisco-based Coinbase as one of the first major IPOs of 2021, in what is expected to be another big year for companies going public.
There are a few small cryptocurrency-based companies trading publicly in the US and abroad, but not quite as big as Coinbase, which was recently valued at around $ 8 billion. It is the largest US-based cryptocurrency exchange by volume of trade and one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world.
Coinbase’s IPO filing comes just a day after bitcoin hit $ 20,000 for the first time in its 12-year history. The value of the digital currency has nearly tripled in 2020.