Coinbase listing is crypto’s 'Netscape moment,' says Mike Novogratz

Galaxy Digital founder and CEO Mike Novogratz compared the listing of Coinbase's shares on Nasdaq today to the dawn of a new age in the adoption of crypto.

In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning, Novogratz called the long-awaited initial public offering, or IPO, of the major cryptocurrency exchange’s stock shares "the Netscape moment for the cryptocurrency economy." The Galaxy Digital CEO was referring to the tech company behind one of the earliest Internet browsers — Netscape Navigator — whose stock price surged from $28 to $75 in its first day.

“This is a really important day for the whole crypto world,” said Novogratz referring to the Coinbase IPO. “This is saying ‘this is an asset class, and it’s an asset class that’s here to stay.’”

"This is the netscape moment for the cryptocurrency economy," says @Novogratz $COIN #btc. "Institutions are going to come flooding into this space--$COIN is the first big marquee equity that mutual funds are going to say hey I can make my statement in crypto this way." pic.twitter.com/9YEODRKmiV

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) April 14, 2021

Netscape’s IPO was in many ways the beginning of the Internet age, leading to significantly more interconnectivity among websites, faster connection speeds, and other innovations in tech. Novogratz seemed to be implying that the crypto industry would likely experience a surge in institutional adoption and greater awareness from the public at large:

"Institutions are going to come flooding into this space. We’re seeing it every day. We’re seeing it in Bitcoin, we’re going to see it in the public equity markets. Coinbase is the first big marquee equity that mutual funds are going to say 'hey, I can make my statement in crypto this way.'"

Coinbase’s Class A shares, under the ticker COIN, opened at a price of $381 on Nasdaq today. Should the stocks follow in Netscape’s footsteps, the price would need to rise 167% at some point in its first day, making one share of COIN worth roughly $636.