Coinbase offers US retail investors access to IPOs

Coinbase is now giving American retail investors the ability to participate in IPOs, or stock market listings, directly through the Coinbase app. The service starts this week with Oura’s IPO. Users can request shares at the offer price, even before trading on the exchange begins. Coinbase positions this as a further step towards a platform on which every type of investment product can be traded.

In brief:

• Coinbase now lets American retail investors request shares in IPOs through the app.
• The service starts with Oura’s IPO and is offered through Coinbase Capital Markets.
• Anyone who sells IPO shares within 30 days may be excluded from new IPOs for 60 days.

Requesting shares before trading on the exchange begins

Through the Coinbase app, eligible American customers can submit a request for a portion of the shares in an IPO. That request may be fulfilled in full, in part or not at all, depending on availability.

The service is offered through Coinbase Capital Markets, a broker registered with FINRA. Execution, clearing and custody of the shares are handled by Apex Clearing Corporation. Earlier, Binance Wallet also launched pre-IPO campaigns, albeit through a different approach.

30-day selling restriction for participants

Coinbase does attach a condition to participation. Investors who sell their IPO shares within 30 days of allocation may be excluded from future IPOs through the platform for 60 days.

Coinbase calls the new feature a step towards what the company describes as an all-encompassing exchange, on which assets can be traded at every stage of their life cycle. This gives Americans earlier access to companies that are not yet listed on a public exchange.