Cryptocurrency platform Coinbase Global Inc.
COIN,
+5.96%
became the most valuable U.S. financial exchange on Wednesday as it ended the day trading at $328.28, valuing the company at nearly $86 billion on a diluted basis.
Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant, the third highest earner in the NBA, was one of the early investors making bank on the Coinbase IPO.
Through their investment company Thirty Five Ventures, Durant and business partner Rich Kleiman invested in Coinbase back in 2017. At the time, Coinbase was securing capital for their
Series D funding. That funding rounding raised over $100 million at a valuation of $1.6 billion, according to
business reporter Joe Pompliano.
The company, whose users primarily deal in bitcoin
BTCUSD,
-0.61%
and ethereum
ETHUSD,
-1.17%,
now has a valuation that is 53 times as high as when Durant invested, signaling a massive jump in the value of his investment.
It’s unclear how much Durant invested in Coinbase back in 2017, but he has made million-dollar investments in the past, including a $1 million investment in Postmates before its sale to Uber
UBER,
-0.64%
in 2020. A $1 million investment in Coinbase in 2017 would be worth over $53 million today.
Durant and Thirty Five Ventures have also invested in several startups including financial-services company Acorns, esports organization Andbox and alternative-asset-management company Alt.
See also: NFL announces its first-ever U.S. sportsbook partnerships — with Caesars, DraftKings and FanDuel
Other notable early-stage investors in Coinbase include billionaire PayPal
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-1.51%
and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, libertarian hedge-fund manager turned venture capitalist Dmitry Balyasny, Google
GOOG,
+0.05%
GOOGL,
-0.11%
Ventures founder Bill Maris, and political strategist and investor Bradley Tusk.
Shares of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase were up 1.4% on Thursday, and a few Wall Street analysts still say Coinbase is a buy.
Major U.S. stock benchmarks posted gains on Thursday, Coinbase’s first full day of trading after its midday debut as a direct Nasdaq listing on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.48%
rallied 305 points, or 0.9%, as the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.36%
is gained 45 points higher, or 1.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
+0.10%
was up nearly 181 points, or 1.3%.
