Coinbase’s Recent $2B Bond Offering Shows Voracious Appetite of Investors

The publically traded digital asset exchange raised $500 million more than initially planned.

article-image

Blockworks exclusive art by axel rangel

share

key takeaways

  • Coinbase stock is down 22% from August 11, 2021 highs following earnings release
  • Bond offering saw massive demand as investors seek yield, and want digital asset exposure

Coinbase has found a new opportunity to raise money at attractive rates, through a bond offering. Since its direct stock listing in April, the company’s $COIN shares settled into a range between about $220 and $280 per share. The stock hit the $294 mark on the day Coinbase posted a Q2 2021 result of $1 billion adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization) on August 11, before falling back toward the bottom of the range in subsequent weeks.

On September 13, the company announced plans to raise $1.5 billion in a junk bond offering, but they ended up raising $2 billion on sales of seven-year and 10-year notes, carrying interest rates of 3.375% and 3.625% respectively.

“Demand was so high,” wrote Bloomberg on September 14, that “at least $7 billion of orders poured in,” and yet, just ten days later, following news of the latest China (non-)ban, Bloomberg described the bond offering as a “debacle.”

Unlike MicroStrategy Inc., which has tapped the bond market to fund purchases of bitcoin itself, Coinbase intends to use the cash raised for general corporate purposes, which could mean anything from developing new products to executing acquisitions.

The interest rate Coinbase must pay is slightly higher than comparable corporate bonds rated just below investment grade, Bloomberg noted, but will allow the crypto exchange to diversify its offerings.

Coinbase recently cancelled plans to offer a high-yield savings-like product — dubbed Coinbase Lend — after receiving objections from the SEC, and is seeking regulatory clarity for its business. Earlier this week, the company announced a new feature to make users’ Coinbase accounts a destination for direct deposits from the paychecks of salaried employees in the United States.

The $2 billion bond sale is part of a greater trend this year of investment in businesses operating in the digital asset industry, a trend which accelerated in September.

Loading Tweet..

“The appetite capital has for crypto right now is astonishing. It will all fund the next massive adoption cycle,” noted Travis Kling of Ikigai Asset Management on Twitter, yesterday.

Ark Invest managers apparently agrees, as they recently added 184,199 shares of Coinbase, worth about $42 million, to the Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK). The price of $COIN is up 2.8% to $234 on the Nasdaq at market open.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

The convergence of DePIN and energy generation aims to address modern grid challenges by incentivizing distributed generation.

article-image

An improving outlook on tariffs is positive for cryptocurrencies, but a sustained rally is going to take movement on the regulatory front

article-image

Apollo’s Christine Moy explained how the “velocity” of innovation in crypto has led to the evolution of RWAs

article-image

Warren Buffett attributes his astounding investment returns to only about a dozen “truly good decisions” he’s made

article-image

This report has been corrected.

article-image

Stablecoin revenue a bright spot for the crypto exchange in Q1, as trading revenue dropped 19% quarter over quarter

article-image

Creators are being told to “shill” their tokens and cash in on their “cults”