Company Watch: Coinbase blazes a trail for crypto with $85bn post-IPO valuation

Founder Brian Armstrong, now among the 100 richest people on the planet, says cryptocurriencies could be as ‘revolutionary’ as the internet

Brian Armstrong: the founder of Coinbase is now among the 100 richest people in the world

When Coinbase, the crypto exchange, went public via a direct listing last Wednesday, it was a watershed moment for cryptocurrencies.

By close of business on its first day of trading, Coinbase, once a scrappy start-up operating out of a two-bedroom flat in San Francisco, had a valuation greater than that of the Hong Kong , London and New York stock exchange, or any other conventional stock exchange in the world.

Its market capitalisation now sits ...