The SEC’s investigation into Coinbase’s user metrics continues to persist. At the same time, Nasdaq listings have been made by eToro and Galaxy Digital, marking their official market debuts.
Coinbase Navigates a Volatile Week
A $400 million cybersecurity breach was reported by Coinbase this week, marking one of the most significant incidents in the company’s history. The most concerning element of the breach was that it resulted from an overseas contractor being bribed to compromise and steal customer information.
In an online video statement, it was disclosed by CEO Brian Armstrong that access to sensitive user information—including names, addresses, partial banking details, and identification documents—had been obtained by criminals. He noted, however, that fewer than 1% of the platform’s customers had been impacted by the breach.
An attempt was made by the criminals to extort $20 million from Coinbase in exchange for preventing the release of the stolen data. The demand was rejected by the company, which has since established a $20 million reward for any information that results in identifying those responsible.
Compounding the situation, an investigation is also being faced by the company from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the accuracy of its reported user figures.
The report initially surfaced in The New York Times, where it was revealed by four anonymous sources that the investigation had been initiated last year under President Joe Biden’s administration and remains active, even though the SEC has withdrawn its lawsuit against the exchange.
In its initial public offering document filed in 2021, it was stated by Coinbase that over 100 million “verified users” were on the platform. However, by 2023, the use of that terminology had been discontinued in the company’s marketing content.
Nonetheless, market volatility implies both rises and falls. Despite encountering some setbacks, the company was recently added to the S&P 500 and concluded the week trading at $266.78—reflecting an 18% increase compared to the same period last week.
eToro and Galaxy Digital Make Nasdaq Debuts
Galaxy Digital, an investment and financial services firm, along with the trading platform eToro, have been officially listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbols GLXY and ETOR, respectively.
The routes taken by the companies to reach that milestone could not have been more distinct from one another.
Galaxy Digital has been publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange since 2018. For this reason, although its debut on the Nasdaq occurred only this morning—with CEO Mike Novogratz ringing the opening bell—the company’s earnings have been regularly reported for several years.
Following the company’s major debut, it was expressed by Novogratz in an interview with CNBC that the procedure undertaken to redomicile to the United States had been perceived as “un-American, unfair, and infuriating.”
In the same interview, a challenging journey toward a U.S. IPO was suggested to have been experienced by eToro, according to the crypto CEO, though few specifics were provided.
It is true that an attempt was made by eToro to go public in the United States through a SPAC deal in 2021, but the effort was unsuccessful.
The limited information available regarding its successful IPO round was reported by the Israeli tech outlet Calcalist, which noted that the deal’s underwriters had closed the order book after the round became oversubscribed by a factor of ten.
While it may seem optimistic, the outcome does not appear particularly unfair or infuriating. Following its debut, the company’s market capitalization has surged to $5 billion.
