The price of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency marched to fresh highs on Wednesday, as investors awaited the first listing of a digital exchange on Wall Street.
Bitcoin BTCUSD, +2.16% took out Tuesday’s fresh record high above $ 63,000, reaching $ 64,368, a gain of 6% over the past 24 hours. And the gains weren’t reserved only for bitcoin, as ether ETHEUR, +3.39%, on the Ethereum network, has gained around 10% over the same period, reaching a fresh record at nearly $ 2,370 early Wednesday. XRP XRPUSD, +5.01%, which is pegged to Ripple, has jumped 33% in 24 hours, last trading at a new high of $ 1.95.
On Wednesday, Coinbase will begin trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol “COIN” as a direct listing. meaning it isn’t raising any capital as a traditional IPO would. The digital platform was given a reference price of $ 250 a share late Tuesday evening, which values it at around $ 67 billion.
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The reference price doesn’t determine where the stock will open, but investor enthusiasm has been building, and analysts say that’s reflected in the recent surging prices of digital currencies. Trading on the exchange is centered mainly on bitcoin and Ether, the biggest cryptocurrencies.
“Listing of Coinbase in the U.S. is a big deal for many investors because it somehow sends a signal that the U.S. lawmakers aren’t going to ban bitcoin, and the crypto king is here to stay now,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, in a note to clients. Yet some have cautioned that Coinbase’s valuation may be far too lofty.
Read: Coinbase IPO: Everything you need to know about the ‘watershed moment’ in crypto