Prices of cryptocurrencies surged to records Wednesday as the listing of exchange
Coinbase Global Inc.
propelled interest in digital assets.
Bitcoin climbed to a record of $64,829 apiece, ether climbed to $2,400 and dogecoin—the meme cryptocurrency created as a joke—surged to 14 cents, according to CoinDesk. The rally in dogecoin came despite Coinbase not offering trading in it.
Shares of Coinbase started trading Wednesday and ended a volatile session with an $85 billion valuation.
The listing has drawn renewed attention to cryptocurrencies, pulling in new retail traders. This has benefited not only the most highly traded cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and ether, but also smaller and cheaper coins.
“Everything is rallying,” said
Joel Kruger,
a strategist at cryptocurrency exchange LMAX Digital. “We have a combination of global macro forces that are driving risk higher. We also have a lot of swirl around the Coinbase news and that is giving the crypto market some added boost and added exposure.”
Flows into bitcoin by institutional investors slowed during the past two months, said
Chris Bendiksen,
head of research at London-based asset management firm CoinShares. One reason might be that firms have been waiting to buy shares of Coinbase.
“If you can’t get exposure to bitcoin or you don’t want it pure, you can go through Coinbase because it probably feels more kosher to people,” he said. “I expect that some of the demand might have been funneled into Coinbase instead.”
More on the Coinbase Listing
Write to Caitlin Ostroff at caitlin.ostroff@wsj.com
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Appeared in the April 15, 2021, print edition as ‘Cryptocurrencies Leap to Records.’