- Bitcoin surged to an all-time high near $65,000 on Wednesday ahead of the Coinbase IPO.
- Coinbase is set to list directly on the Nasdaq as the biggest crypto firm yet to go public.
- Analysts said the listing is bullish for bitcoin and could lead to another leg higher.
Bitcoin hit an all-time high for the second day running on Wednesday as excitement around the direct listing of exchange Coinbase helped push the cryptocurrency close to $65,000.
A rise of 2.6% took bitcoin as high as $64,870, before it pared its gains to trade at $63,709 at 9.15 a.m. ET.
Commentators said the latest leg higher has been driven by the Coinbase direct listing on the Nasdaq on Wednesday, which is set to be the first time a major cryptocurrency company has gone public.
Coinbase's volatile revenues make it hard to value, but estimates have been as high as $100 billion. Nasdaq set a reference price of $250 a share on Tuesday, although it could trade much higher, given that shares changed hands for $350 in a private auction in March.
"I expect record-breaking demand for this IPO," said Richard Johnson, chief executive of technology focused investment firm Texture Capital. "The valuation from private market trades was $90 billion, but this was before Coinbase announced their blowout Q1 numbers."
He added: "Medium to long term, I see COIN [Coinbase's ticker] becoming a proxy for crypto exposure until the ETFs start getting approved." An ETF is an exchange-traded fund.
Richard Johnson, chief executive of technology focused investment firm Texture Capital, said: "I expect record-breaking demand for this IPO." He added: "Medium to long term, I see COIN becoming a proxy for crypto exposure until the ETFs start getting approved."
Vitaliy Kedyk, head of strategy at Currency.com, said: "This listing along with the BTC ETFs will attract a lot of institutional money, fueling the entire industry forward."
However, some commentators have warned a disappointing public listing could knock confidence in crypto.
Edward Moya, senior market analyst at currency firm Oanda, said on Monday there is a risk that "a disappointing IPO or excessive concerns over enhanced regulatory oversight could weigh on bitcoin and the other altcoins."
More broadly, massive amounts of monetary and fiscal stimulus have powered the bitcoin surge over the last 6 months, analysts say. The cryptocurrency has more than doubled in 2021 and is up around 830% from a year ago.
Institutional interest has also been a key part of the story, with major companies such as Tesla, JPMorgan and BNY Mellon getting involved.