Coinbase has officially launched initial public offering access for eligible U.S. retail customers, starting with smart-ring maker Oura's public offering this week. As reported by Reuters, Oura is offering 50 million shares at between $40 and $44 each, with the deal potentially raising up to $2.2 billion and giving the company a fully diluted valuation of about $15.62 billion. The maker of wearable rings plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker OURA, with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan serving as lead underwriters. Eli Lilly has expressed interest in buying up to $100 million of shares, while Dragoneer may purchase up to $300 million. Oura generated $1.21 billion in revenue during the nine months through June 30, representing a 74% increase from the same period a year earlier. The company makes a smart ring that tracks key health indicators such as heart rate, sleep stages and physical activity.
Coinbase shares reached a four-month high on Monday, briefly trading near the $208 level before closing at around $201, as reported by AMBCrypto. The stock had opened at $205.05 and traded between $196.48 and $208.28 during the session. COIN was down 1.09% at approximately $198.85 at the time of writing, but the stock remains above its 200-day average near the $193.95 price level. A move below the $193 level could weaken the recent recovery, while COIN would need to regain the $203 level before challenging the $208–$210 area again. The positive market reaction follows the announcement of Coinbase's new IPO access service and the Oura listing details.
Coinbase Global CEO Brian Armstrong is moving past the crypto industry's major legislative setback, stating he's 'moving past the crypto industry's big bill two days after the Senate failed to advance the landmark legislation'. As reported by Yahoo Finance, Armstrong told the Daily Wolf that 'we let politics get in the way, I guess' and added 'I would just at this point assume it's dead'. The failed Clarity Act was proposed to establish the first federal framework for crypto markets by laying out rules on which federal agency oversees what, with most of the crypto world looking to move on from the loss. Through D.C. lobbying efforts and political campaign spending via the political action committee FairShake, Armstrong and his company fought aggressively for years to secure passage of the legislation.
Coinbase users can request IPO allocations through the mobile application, beginning with the Oura offering this week. As reported by Reuters, customers can open the IPO section of the Coinbase app, select an active deal, and fund their accounts to cover the requested shares. Coinbase Capital Markets, the company's registered brokerage arm, provides the service with Apex Clearing processing and holding the shares. Placing a request does not mean an allocation is automatically guaranteed - Coinbase may complete the order in full, decide to supply less than the number of shares requested, or reject it if there is more than the available supply. After the order book closes, Coinbase will distribute available shares using its allocation system, with demand and underwriter allocation determining whether each request receives a full allocation, partial allocation, or no shares. The allocation method favors customers who appear more likely to retain their shares - investors who dispose of allocated shares during the first 30 days may lose access to upcoming IPOs for 60 days, with repeated early sales potentially resulting in smaller allocations.
Outside the United States, Coinbase has started expanding direct access to traditional equities, recently beginning 24/5 trading in nearly 4,000 U.S. stocks for eligible customers in the United Kingdom. The exchange has also received Financial Services Permission from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market for tokenization services. As reported by crypto.news, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong recently argued that tokenized stocks should be backed by real securities and carry the rights associated with the underlying shares. The proposed perpetuals would not provide that ownership model but would give traders a leveraged contract settled under derivatives rules, with the contracts providing leveraged price exposure without requiring customers to own the underlying shares. The IPO service adds another U.S. securities product to Coinbase's plan to combine crypto, stocks, derivatives and other investments in one application.
