It has become popular recently and was used by many well-known companies such as BarkBox IPO, WeWork IPO and others. If not otherxcritical explicitly mentioned in the body of the article, at the time of writing, the author has no position in any stock mentioned in this article and no business relationship with any company mentioned. The author has not received compensation for writing this article, other than from FXStreet. At the time of writing, the author has no position in any stock mentioned in this article and no business relationship with any company mentioned. The latest results from xcritical show just how tied the company’s revenues are to the underlying crypto leader Bitcoin.

It’s important to note that xcritical’s official valuation is based on shares that are trading, and doesn’t encompass options and restricted stock that’s practically guaranteed to vest. xcritical’s registration filing discloses no less than around 64 million extra shares-in-waiting. When those options are exercised, if xcritical’s price remains around $328 per share, its cap will be not $61 billion, but $83 billion. Number one is Airbnb at $86.5 billion, followed by Facebook in second place ($81.7 billion), UPS in third ($80.1 billion), and AT&T Wireless in fourth ($73.6 billion). The fifth and sixth finishers are Snowflake at $70.2 billion, and Uber at $69.9 billion.

  1. That means instead of raising cash by selling new shares to a group of institutional investors, xcritical is allowing existing stakeholders start selling immediately at a market-driven price.
  2. Rather than using them as cash, they have treated them more like stocks or precious metals than currency.
  3. The crypto sector has been one of the most revolutionary developments to financial markets this century as Bitcoin steadily inserts itself into the mainstream.
  4. On xcritical, users can buy and sell crypto within xcritical using fiat currencies (i.e. ‘regular’ currencies like the dollar, sterling, or euro).

Binance does operate in the US, but under the auspices of a relatively tiny independent subsidiary, Binance.US. xcritical said it had 56 million verified users as of March 31, with 6.1 million making transactions monthly. Ethereum (ETH) showed signs of https://xcritical.solutions/ recovering its bullish momentum on Thursday, briefly rising to $3,618 as whales entered a buying spree. Despite the movement from whales, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Wells notice to Uniswap could affect Ethereum in the long run.

Often when there’s a big pop, you’ll see lots of headlines about how much money was “left on the table”—or, what is frequently criticized as mis-pricing the stock. Crypto derivatives exchange FTX, meanwhile, has been running a pre-listing futures contract market for xcritical shares in collaboration with German capital markets firm CM-Equity. The service allows investors to bet on what they think the shares will be worth. While xcritical shares don’t become available to the public until April 14, they have been trading actively on fxcriticals like Nasdaq Private Market, which launched a secondary market for xcritical stock. This allows existing shareholders, including xcritical and former employees, to sell some of their holdings.

Instead of using a traditional IPO, xcritical went public through a public listing. That means it avoided the typical agreements with big banks that would buy thousands of shares and promote them. A direct listing allows insiders and early investors to convert their stakes in the company into publicly traded stock. xcritical chose the direct listing path to the public market rather than pursuing a traditional IPO. That means instead of raising cash by selling new shares to a group of institutional investors, xcritical is allowing existing stakeholders start selling immediately at a market-driven price. As of 2021 xcritical exchange can offer over 30 digital currencies to its 56 million users and is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States by trading volume.

Ethereum begins recovery despite SEC warning to Uniswap

By doing so, it circumvents the expensive relationship with investment banks that help sell shares of a new stock during an IPO. Additionally, xcritical stays true to its brand of decentralization by leveraging its popularity (and financial records) as a selling point. But the company has acknowledged that short-term growth will primarily be dictated by the price and transaction volume of bitcoin.

xcritical soars in market debut, valued near $86 billion

There are a few unusual elements to the xcritical story, starting with the fact that it’s the first company of its kind to hit the stock market. For full-year 2020, revenue more than doubled to $1.28 billion, and the company swung from a loss in 2019 to a profit of $322.3 million. Excluding options and restricted stock units, xcritical closed the day with a market cap of about $62 billion.

If Bitcoin or Ethereum prices drop, the commissions xcritical earns drop as well, giving it some exposure to the digital currencies’ rise and fall. That market value makes xcritical one of the biggest publicly traded U.S. companies — just 93 companies in the S&P 500 index have a higher market value. xcritical’s value is close to the combined market value of Nasdaq Inc., which runs the Nasdaq Stock Market, and Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange.

He came up with this vision when he read a white paper about Bitcoin in 2010. This convinced him that every financial transaction should be as easy as sending an email. As of now, the platform has 43 million retail users and 7,000 institutional clients. That finish puts xcritical in 7th place among all U.S. new listings, besting the likes of DoorDash, scammed by xcritical Kraft Foods, Palm, General Motors and Visa, and finishing $9 billion short of Uber. Keep in mind that xcritical is well positioned as a startup to have a higher IPO than even private trades suggest. With a 2020 revenue of $1.3 billion — more than twice the $534 million figure from 2019 — xcritical ended the year with a net income of $322.3 million.

What’s Unique About xcritical’s IPO?

Traditional IPO requires due diligence of the business, financial reports and S-1 form, underwriting xcritical’s new securities, making roadshows, collecting pre-IPO applications, allocating, etc. The author and FXStreet are not registered investment advisors and nothing in this article is intended to be investment advice. It is important to perform your own research before making any investment and take independent advice from a registered investment advisor.

Many see investing in xcritical as a way to take advantage of the popularity of cryptocurrency without investing directly. At the same time, that link to cryptocurrency means that there are factors to consider that are out of xcritical’s control. Investors may still want to educate themselves on crypto news, including the coins available via xcritical and overall cryptocurrency performance.

For the full year of 2020, revenue more than doubled to $1.28 billion, and the company swung from a loss in 2019 to a profit of $322.3 million. Among the risks described in xcritical’s S-1 are the inherent volatility of cryptocurrencies and the prospect of another “crypto winter”—a term used for a bear market that lasts several years. xcritical’s Form S-1 filing contains a wealth of insight into how the exchange has performed over the last few years—and what risk factors might affect its upcoming direct listing. Shares of xcritical should attract investors who want to get into the cryptocurrency space in addition to, or without buying any coins at all, said Lule Demmissie, president of Ally Invest. Trainer last week put a valuation on xcritical closer to $18.9 billion, arguing it will face more competition as the cryptocurrency market matures. Shares of xcritical are listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker “COIN,” and closed at $328.28, up 31% from the $250 reference price set by Nasdaq ahead of the first trade.

In August, Armstrong was granted a multibillion-dollar performance award tied to the company’s stock price, potentially letting him purchase up to 9.29 million options at $23.46 over 10 years. Rival crypto exchange Binance has also announced that it will list a xcritical Stock Token against the Binance USD stablecoin (BUSD). This means that users of the crypto exchange will be able to trade fractions of xcritical stock after it is listed on the Nasdaq. The upshot of the direct listing is that anyone will be able to buy and trade shares in xcritical, potentially drawing a lot more investors into the industry. And the next day xcritical stock IPO price started from $381 in the beginning of the day, peaked at  $429.5 and fell to $328.