As bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies get increasing attention from investors, Wall Street and its traditional banks continue to adjust to the shift. Catch up on this week's top stories highlighting the intersection of these old guard and new school areas of finance with this recap compiled by The Fly.
COINBASE PREPARES LISTING: Coinbase has initiated plans for a stock market listing that could occur as soon as this year, making it the first major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange to go public, Reuters' Anirban Sen, Joshua Franklin, and Anna Irrera reported Thursday, citing three people familiar with the matter. The listing would require a blessing from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and if the SEC were to approve it, the listing would represent a landmark victory for crypto advocates vying for mainstream endorsement, the authors said. Sources told Reuters that Coinbase has not yet registered its intention to go public with the SEC, but has been in discussions to hire investment banks and law firms.
TETHER PROBE: Forbes' Michael del Castillo reported earlier this week that a New York appeals court unleashed the state's attorney general to probe a number of businesses behind the tether cryptocurrency. While there have yet to be any formal accusations of fraud or other wrongdoing, the opinion from an appellate division of the state's Supreme Court gives "teeth" to subpoenas filed by the AG, and the respondents, including Tether Holdings and the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange, had unsuccessfully fought the subpoenas at the trial level, according to Forbes. The news comes as Brock Pierce, the creator of tether, announced this week that he was running for President of the United States, Forbes noted. A representative of the NY AG said he "cannot confirm or deny that the investigation" involves Pierce, Forbes said.
SRAX INITIATION: On Monday, B. Riley FBR analyst Mike Crawford initiated coverage of Srax (SRAX) with a Buy rating and $4 price target, saying that the company is unlocking data for brands with its emerging investor intelligence and communication platform Sequire. The analyst believes that the "rapid adoption" of Sequire in its first year since introduction positions the company to be cash flow positive from operations next year but for its investment in BIGtoken.
DOGECOIN: Earlier this week, Business Insider's Ben Winck reported that volumes of Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency originally established as a "joke" coin, surged over the previous two days amid a new trend on video-sharing service TikTok aiming to get the currency's price to $1. TikTok user James Galante started urging his followers to purchase Dogecoin last month, claiming they could "all get rich" if enough followers invested $25 in the cryptocurrency, Winck said. Since then, one of his videos gathered over 537,000 views, search interest spiked, the challenge began trending on Twitter, and the coin briefly hit its highest level since October 2018.
CRYPTO STOCK PLAYS: Cryptocurrency revenues have been pointed to as reasons to be bullish on Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Nvidia (NVDA) in select research. Overstock (OSTK), DPW Holdings (DPW), Kodak (KODK), Ideanomics (IDEX), Riot Blockchain (RIOT), Pareteum (TEUM) and Social Reality are other stocks that have been touted, or promoted themselves, as a way to play the crypto theme.
PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin rose fractionally this week to $9,186.46 in U.S. dollars, according to TradeBlock.
Srax
+ (+0.00%)
AMD
-0.95 (-1.66%)
Nvidia
-1.1 (-0.26%)
OSTK
+
Ault Global Holdings
+0.12 (+5.94%)
Eastman Kodak
+ (+0.00%)
Ideanomics
-0.095 (-6.60%)
Riot Platforms
-0.025 (-1.07%)
Pareteum
-0.015 (-2.30%)