Live data from Hacker News

Coinbase from YC to DPO

blog.ycombinator.com

711–720 of 883 posts

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#711
post #266

Coinbase is very profitable and has huge cash reserves for a company of its size. I don't see any reason why they would feel the need to IPO if not to take advantage of people's FOMO.

This is the correct take, IMO. This feels to me like a lot of higher-ups at Coinbase are sensing the peak of a crypto hype wave and want to take advantage of the moment to cash out and spread their risk around. Plus they have privileged access to real-time data on crypto market movement (I assume); they’ll know if a btc sell off is brewing long before anyone else. The fact that BTC only jumped to 64k is telling...

Surely they made the decision to IPO back when BTC was half of what it is now.

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#713

It will be interesting to see how Coinbase performs compared to a weighted average of the top 3 cryptos directly. Anyway, Coinbase is a good case study on how UX/UI makes all the difference. I'll definitely study them in the future.

This. Both Coinbase and Stripe are were they are today almost entirely because they have mastered UX/UI.

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#714

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the correct take, IMO. This feels to me like a lot of higher-ups at Coinbase are sensing the peak of a crypto hype wave and want to take advantage of the moment to cash out and spread their risk around. Plus they have privileged access to real-time data on crypto market movement (I assume); they’ll know if a btc sell off is brewing long before anyone else. The fact that BTC only jumped to 64k is telling...

This is nonsense. Coinbase didn’t IPO, it was a direct listing. They didn’t issue or sell any shares.

Can you translate for someone who has zero knowledge in this area?

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#715

“Additionally, it’s worth celebrating that Coinbase was always a good business, i.e. it always made money.” Why is that worth celebrating? A company made money. That is what companies are created to do. I suppose if you invested in Coinbase, you could celebrate it. Otherwise, who cares?

Making a company that makes money is a huge accomplishment.

But why celebrate it? So is graduating college or buying a house, but I am not celebrating those accomplishments of random strangers. Unless I am personally invested in Coinbase, why should I celebrate their “accomplishment”?

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#716

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…

Probably better to compare to other financials. PNC Bank has market cap of $76 billion. 50,000 employees, $16 bil revenue.

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#717
post #643

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Priced in, only if you're completely insane. Have you priced in the risk that the SEC shuts down the offramps before it gets there?

Obviously both of those possibilities are priced in. Investors aren't stupid, Gamestop notwithstanding.

> Investors aren't stupid

I think it's pretty clear by now that they are.

We just hope that the stupidity on the buy and sell sides more or less balances out, and what's left to determine the price is people with some real insight.

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#718

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…

No retail investor has accounts directly with the NYSE. Coinbase directly holds the customer relationship and if more government regulation comes down on crypto it will be a better moat for them against competitors. I think Coinbase may still be overvalued but don't think it is directly comparable to NYSE or other major exchanges.

«No retail investor has accounts directly with the NYSE»

That's a good point. So a fairer comparison would be to compare Coinbase to the market cap of NYSE ($66B) + a stock broker who has roughly the same userbase as Coinbase. For example Schwab ($127B) has about half as many accounts as Coinbase. So NYSE+Schwab = $193B. Suddenly Coinbase valued at $100B while having twice as many accounts and trading fees per dollar transacted ten-fold higher than NYSE+Schwab seems like a bargain... !

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#719
post #699

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"How I Made $2B By Doing Almost Nothing", on sale now for a limited time. Only $19.99! Order today. And don't forget to like and subscribe. That would really help me out.

The better title would be "How I made $2B on an educated $300k bet" because even the best startup investors will tell you that investing that early is essentially betting. And early-stage help and intros are crucial for startups - between YC and Garry's network I'm sure a ton of that contributed to their success as well. At the end of the day still a bet, but just saying.

You're right, that would be a better title.

Re: Coinbase from YC to DPO

#720

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 value of all crypto is over 2T now

Is it though?
Post reply on HN