Source: Livemint | Title: Cryptocurrencies soar to records ahead of Coinbase listing
Prices of cryptocurrencies surged to record highs Wednesday as the coming listing of exchange Coinbase Global Inc. propelled interest in digital assets.
Bitcoin hit a record high of $64,754 apiece, ether traded as high as $2,398 and dogecoin—the meme cryptocurrency created as a joke—surged 77% to $0.13 after reaching as much as $0.14, according to CoinDesk. The rally in dogecoin came despite Coinbase not offering trading in it.
Shares of Coinbase are set to start trading Wednesday and will be listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market via a direct listing under the ticker symbol COIN. Nasdaq set the reference price for Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, at $250, which would give it a valuation of about $65 billion—above that of Nasdaq Inc.
The listing has drawn renewed attention to cryptocurrencies, pulling in new retail traders. This has benefited not only the most highly traded cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and ether, but also smaller and cheaper coins.
“Everything is rallying,” said Joel Kruger, a strategist at cryptocurrency exchange LMAX Digital. “We have a combination of global macro forces that are driving risk higher. We also have a lot of swirl around the Coinbase news and that is giving the crypto market some added boost and added exposure.”
Flows into bitcoin by institutional investors slowed in the past two months, said Chris Bendiksen, head of research at London-based asset management firm CoinShares. One reason might be that firms have been waiting to buy shares of Coinbase.
“If you can’t get exposure to bitcoin or you don’t want it pure, you can go through Coinbase because it probably feels more kosher to people,” he said. “I expect that some of the demand might have been funneled into Coinbase instead.”
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.