Even with no physical headquarters and seemingly few regulations affecting its business practices, Binance could reportedly be worth three times as much as Coinbase if it were to go public today.
According to a Thursday report from the Wall Street Journal, former executives of the major cryptocurrency exchange estimated that Binance could be worth up to $300 billion as a publicly traded company, considering its current trading volume and transaction fees. Data from CoinMarketCap shows Binance with a trading volume of more than $46 billion in the last 24 hours, making it the top-ranked exchange ahead of Coinbase at roughly $9.5 billion. The estimated valuation would also likely put it ahead of its U.S. competitor, which went into its initial public offering in April with an estimated valuation of $100 billion.
If Binance were to go public, it’s unclear in which country it would start. The exchange has no formal headquarters, but its holding company is registered in the Cayman Islands, with previous connections to China, Japan, Malta and Seychelles. CEO Changpeng Zhao, or CZ, lives in Singapore, and many of Binance’s employees are reportedly spread across the globe.
However, CZ said in September that the exchange’s U.S. arm was aiming for an initial public offering in 2024, having generated between $800 million and $1 billion in profit in 2020. Kraken, which is also considering a public listing in the United States by the end of next year, was worth an estimated $10 billion as of June.
Related: Globe-trotting Binance looks to Ireland for ‘centralized’ headquarters
Binance has been facing scrutiny from regulators worldwide, with authorities in the United States, Italy, Canada, Japan, Thailand and other countries issuing warnings to local investors to exercise caution when using the exchange. CZ said in July that he wanted Binance “to be licensed everywhere,” coordinating with regulators as the company expands.
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