With cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase making its Nasdaq debut on Wednesday, "investors no longer have the luxury of watching from the sidelines," Nir Kaissar writes in Bloomberg. "We all have a stake in cryptos now."
Kaissar explains that Coinbase differs from a lot of companies that head to Wall Street for public stock offerings in that it's "already hugely profitable" with expected earnings of $730 million to $800 million in the first quarter on $1.8 billion of revenue. It's valued at about $100 billion, placing it among the 100 largest companies in the U.S., which means it's guaranteed to lock up a spot in most broad market index funds. Coinbase is also eligible for the S&P 500, which Kaissar notes is "the most popular index of them all and a core investment in countless portfolios and retirement accounts," so, regardless of whether they realize it, millions of people are about to become crypto investors.
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