Coinbase’s valuation soars in first public listing of a major cryptocurrency company. nytimes.com

Photo: Jason Henry for The New York Times

Shares of Coinbase, the first major cryptocurrency company, surged on Thursday, a day after it began trading on the Nasdaq.

Coinbase began trading on Wednesday afternoon at $381 a share, a 52 percent increase over a $250 reference price set by Nasdaq on Tuesday. (A reference price is set by a stock exchange based on expectations for where the stock will open.)

The stock swung as low as $310 and as high as $429 in a volatile day of trading that reflected the unpredictable nature of cryptocurrency prices. Coinbase ended the day at $328.28, valuing the company at $85.7 billion counting all of its outstanding shares — more than 10 times its last valuation as a private company.

“It may be the right stock, but just the wrong price right now, hence the volatility,” David Nelson, chief strategist at Belpointe Asset Management, told Yahoo Finance.

Coinbase stock is one of the few ways equity traders can invest in bitcoin, said Nelson, adding “there are other stocks out there to do it. I’ve told clients out there — both institutional and retail — if you want to play crypto, go out and buy crypto assets.”

Founded in San Francisco in 2012, Coinbase allows people and companies to buy and sell various digital currencies, including Bitcoin, the most popular, and Ether. The company, which takes a transaction fee, has been riding high on a boom year for cryptocurrencies, as investors have poured money into the assets and driven their prices to new highs.

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