Leading US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase will have its initial listing on Nasdaq. The IPO will take place on April 14.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the initial public offering by the largest US-based crypto exchange through a direct listing on Nasdaq. The IPO will take place in two weeks, on April 14th.

Coinbase said its initial public offering by direct listing had been approved by the SEC. Class A common shares will begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker COIN on April 14, 2021.

114.9 million shares will be offered for sale. After the IPO, the market value of Coinbase could exceed $90 billion. This is higher than the market capitalization of the New York Stock Exchange operator, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).

The IPO was originally scheduled for March, but was later postponed to April. According to Bloomberg, the postponement was caused by violations discovered by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The financial derivatives supervisor fined the cryptocurrency exchange operator $6.5 million “recklessly deliver[ed] false, misleading, or inaccurate reports concerning transactions in digital assets, including Bitcoin, on the electronic trading platform it operated, GDAX.”

In 2020, Coinbase had $1.14 billion in revenue and $322 million in net income. The number of verified users in 2020 grew by 34% to 43 million. A year earlier, Coinbase's filed $483 million of revenue with a loss of $30.4 million. The company was founded in San Francisco in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Hersham.

The upcoming listing of Coinbase shares was greeted with optimism by the crypto community.

“Congratulations to the entire team at Coinbase. This listing will accelerate institutional adoption of bitcoin and catalyze a host of complementary industry initiatives,” said Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor.