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Coinbase from YC to DPO

blog.ycombinator.com

471–480 of 883 posts

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if their business model is raking it in by selling pumped-up speculation, and the pumped-up speculation market is a growing sector, then that's what is called an efficient business model which has nothing to do with the fact that markets are 'efficient'. Also, since when does anyone care if casino's business is based on pumped up gambling. As long as there are millions of transactions going on, the business model…

> As long as there are millions of transactions going on, the business model will stay 'efficient'. I have a timeshare to sell you.

Last time I checked timeshares were a shrinking sector. My advice to you is: consider pivoting your biz model to crypto brokerage.

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#473

For reference, BP the number five global oil behemoth with 200B in revenues in 2020, has a market cap of 85B. Coinbase that sells pumped speculation for a fee has a market cap of 100B. Markets are efficient.

Yeah it sucks that the valuation for a company that inefficiently mines a resource that's going to be stored forever and mostly used to speculate, with only a small part of it ever put to productive use has such a high valuation.

But yeah the valuation for Coinbase is also insane!

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sells pumped speculation Probably the same type of person to criticize biased journalism.

*someone who watched dogecoin soaring 100% in a week.

Dogecoin isn't listed on Coinbase. Is NYSE, Nasdaq, or SNP500 selling pumped speculation?

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#475

The NYSEs parent company Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE) is worth 66.40B. Today's IPO puts Coinbase at 100B+. The NYSE has been in operation since 1817. Coinbase has been in operation since 2012. The value of all crypto is Trading fees in the crypto-world are getting more competitive as more established players support crypto. I don't see a defensible market position here, let alone established track record or st…

The comparison with NYSE is indeed very convincing.

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#476

This is pretty amazing. Gary Tan made a YT video about his experience backing them very early and getting a 6000x return: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5YApjnTG10 It's remarkable that Brian Armstrong gave up what would have been very valuable options in Airbnb—the most valuable YC company at the time—to found a new company that surpassed it.

There's something pretty surreal about an actual multi-billionaire running the youtube investor guru schtick.

You know it's possible for people to start YouTube channels as a hobby/side project/whatever. Not everyone with a YouTube channel is trying to scam you. Billionaires are people too. Justin Kan has a YouTube channel for example. You should check it out :-)

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#477
post #358

It's a tiny bit pedantic, but the Coinbase offering today was not actually an IPO, I learned, but a DPO (Direct Public Offering). It was not a fundraising event for Coinbase, only a liquidity event for shareholders, and unlike an IPO no explicit valuation process occurred to select an offering price.

Its not pedantic at all, it's the most interesting part of this IPO, because this is a new way to do IPOs.

1. Keep valuable growth companies private for as long as possible where only accredited investors (rich people) can invest in them.

2. Open up to the public market only once you've reached the max theoretical valuation. The company is still hugely overvalued on hype and future growth is unlikely. Ideally, you quickly make it into the S&P 500 so you can hand off the bag to passive index holders who have very predictable buy rate (mostly retirement savings).

3...

4. The rich profit of the plebs like always.

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airbnb market cap is at 105 billion and Coinbase is currently at 86. Personally I'm very sceptical that current valuation for Coinbase is justified. It is a great company for sure but there definitely arent similar network effects as with Airbnb. There's plenty of competition in the crypto exchange space.

also airbnb is not dependent on the value of a speculative asset. There will always be demand for rentals.

Bold assertion immediately following a pandemic in which the demand for rentals fell to... zero.

It took a significant pivot for AirBnB to recover and maintain revenues.

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#479

This is pretty amazing. Gary Tan made a YT video about his experience backing them very early and getting a 6000x return: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5YApjnTG10 It's remarkable that Brian Armstrong gave up what would have been very valuable options in Airbnb—the most valuable YC company at the time—to found a new company that surpassed it.

There's something pretty surreal about an actual multi-billionaire running the youtube investor guru schtick.

At least he's not selling a course

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#480

For reference, BP the number five global oil behemoth with 200B in revenues in 2020, has a market cap of 85B. Coinbase that sells pumped speculation for a fee has a market cap of 100B. Markets are efficient.

Yeah it sucks that the valuation for a company that inefficiently mines a resource that's going to be stored forever and mostly used to speculate, with only a small part of it ever put to productive use has such a high valuation. But yeah the valuation for Coinbase is also insane!

  a company that inefficiently mines a resource that's going to be stored forever and mostly used to speculate
I've never heard the Nasdaq described like this. Interesting though.
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