, Columnist
Maybe Coinbase Should Never Have Gone Public
The SEC’s crypto crackdown raises a bigger question of IPO suitability.
Monitors display Coinbase signage during the company's initial public offering in 2021.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Now that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s crypto crackdown has targeted Coinbase Global Inc., the only US-listed exchange in the digital currencies business, a question arises: Should the company have been permitted to go public?
When Coinbase listed in 2021, riding a wave of retail-trading hype with an $86 billion valuation worthy of Netflix Inc., I warned the company looked less like the next Big Tech stock and more like a speculative moonshot akin to Bitcoin or Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation. It turns out even that was too optimistic.