Coinbase's valuation capped at $68 billion ahead of its historic U.S. listing.

Coinbase Global Inc, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, said on Wednesday that recent private market trades priced the business at about $68 billion this year, ahead of a proposed stock market listing.

The cryptocurrency exchange said in a regulatory filing that its private market securities sold at a weighted average price of $343.58 apiece in the first quarter of 2021 through March 15, up from $28.83 per share in the third quarter ended Sept. 30.

Founded by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam in 2012, the company facilitate the trading of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and several other cryptocurrencies in approximately 32 countries

Headquartered in San Francisco, the digital platform is named after Coinbase transactions, which are special transactions that inject cryptocurrency into circulation in proof of work cryptocurrencies.

A successful listing by Coinbase, whose primary business is digital currencies, would be a watershed moment for cryptocurrency advocates vying for support for a sector that has struggled to gain the trust of mainstream investors, regulators, and the general public, Reuters reported. 

Coinbase's potential listing also comes at a time when the value of bitcoin is continuing to rise; on Saturday, it reached a record high of $61,781.83. Since then, the price of the digital currency has fallen as investors consolidated their gains and on news of India's plans to ban cryptocurrencies.

A regulatory filing last month, which provided the first detailed look at Coinbase's finances since its inception in 2012, revealed that it turned a profit last year as bitcoin surged.

Coinbase is trusted by 43 million verified users, 7,000 institutions, and 115,000 ecosystem partners in over 100 countries to easily and securely invest, spend, save, earn, and use cryptocurrency.

The digital currency exchange recently goes public with a direct listing rather than the conventional IPO method.

The move is seen by those in the cryptocurrency community as a landmark, who claim it would help lend credibility to a market by regulators and many conventional investors with suspicion. It also marks another step in the rising integration between traditional finance and crypto finance.

Moreover, the News of the Coinbase decision to seek a direct listing comes days after the firm announced it would open a secondary market enabling workers and others forum to sell private equity.

(With inputs from Reuters)