What caught my eye this week.

Perhaps it’s too early to tell what category the Coinbase IPO falls into.

The companies that choose to go public in a mature stock market boom often make interesting watching.

At one extreme you get the flakier – sometimes borderline fraudulent – firms cashing in on giddy investors who’ll pump up the price of anything.

At the other end you have demonstrable juggernauts and cash cows. Very successful companies that float because… if not now, then when?

Roblox – the computer game creation kit that’s bewitched a generation of kids – and Bumble – the dating app that’s sowing the seeds for the next-generation – come to mind.

Coinbase is coining it

With many investors still skeptical that they should own any cryptocurrency, the public listing of the dominant platform in the space may well seem chum for the credulous.

On the other hand Coinbase has already been valued at around $100bn, pre-IPO.

That’s a loot of moolah for a firm trafficking in supposedly made-up money.

Clearly, present conditions seem exuberant for blockchain technology.

Bitcoin flirted with a new high near-$58,000 this week. Coinbase boasts $90bn in assets under administration. And the NFT (non-fungible token) craze continues, as I cover in a second mini-special in our links this weekend.

I would suggest anyone interested in learning more about cryptocurrency has a read of the Coinbase’s S1 filing. This pre-IPO document is a primer on the entire crypto ecosystem, with pretty graphics and all.

You could also check out The Conventional Investor’s Guide to Bitcoin, published by Morningstar this week.

Can Coinbase cut charges?

I don’t think I’ll be racing to pick up Coinbase shares. I like and use the business, but I can’t stomach the forecast valuation.

Coinbase’s fee margin is enormous, and seems unsustainable. It’s not clear to me whether it can achieve the scale presumably needed for fees to come in closer to what we’re charged for trading securities on other platforms.

Still, $100bn eh? That’s almost as big as Lloyds, Barclays, and Natwest combined!

Have a great weekend everyone. Hope you manage to legally meet a chum for a coffee on a park bench somewhere.

From Monevator

Back-up plans for living off a portfolio – Monevator

Should you invest in a buy-to-let property through a limited company? – Monevator

From the archive-ator: Do you count your own home in your net worth ‘number’? – Monevator

News

Note: Some links are Google search results – in PC/desktop view you can click to read the piece without being a paid subscriber. Try privacy/incognito mode to avoid cookies. Consider subscribing if you read them a lot!1

UK exports to European Union drop 40% in January – BBC

“We are trapped”: Residents hit with soaring service charges at luxury London homes [Search result] – FT

UK GDP falls 2.9% in January amid third national lockdown – Investment Week

Home prices tipped to rise by twice as much in Yorkshire as London – Guardian

Renters pour back into cities ahead of lockdown easing – ThisIsMoney

Football Index gambling platform suspended as firm enters administration – Independent

The five major costs the cladding crisis is piling on homeowners – Which

Soaring prices for rhodium and palladium are fueling the theft of catalytic convertors worldwide – Global News

Owning individual stocks versus owning the market – A Wealth of Common Sense

Products and services

UK homebuyers offered first 40-year mortgage from Habito – Guardian

You can now bookmark and share custom Portfolio Charts – Portfolio Charts

Investing in freedom: an EM fund that downgrades autocracy [Podcast, US but compelling] – The Irrelevant Investor

Sign-up to Freetrade via my link and we can both get a free share worth between £3 and £200 – Freetrade

Seven in 10 freelancers have been refused a mortgage – ThisIsMoney

25% Lifetime ISA penalty is back in April, so is it worth getting one? – Which

Homes for sale renovated during lockdown, in pictures – Guardian

Comment and opinion

The coronavirus crash was a short one [Great graphics] – Morningstar

What’s the long-run rate of return on equities? – The Evidence-based Investor

Drawdown in retirement: from saver to spender – Fire and Wide

More decumulation: Frustration – Indeedably

Why inflation tends to feel higher than it really is – Klement on Investing

Don’t learn the wrong lessons from the Dotcom Crash – Intrinsic Investing

Why you should be wary of claims the market is in a bubble – Time

Chart distortions that drive me crazy – Investing Motherlode

Cash can be a simple and effective short-term inflation hedge – AWOCS

Learn how not to lose – Retirement and ETF Maven

Investing: the greatest show on Earth – Morgan Housel

Coping with a ‘crazy’ stock market – Humble Dollar

Can indexers break the rules, if there are no rules to break? [On ETF regulatory compliance, nerdy and US but relevant] – ETF Action

Naughty corner: Active antics

Capitalism’s greatest dividend is solving problems – Krueger & Catalano

BB Healthcare Trust: curing the health system – IT Investor

Cliff Asness has once again come to Value’s defence – Institutional Investor

How inflation drives asset prices and how to predict inflation – Verdad

Snoop Dogg, investing genius – Crunchbase

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust crypto roach motel [US but interesting] – ETF Trends

How ARK’s Cathie Wood disrupted investment management – MarketWatch

Value isn’t back yet. It’s the size factor that’s driving returns – Valididea

Coronavirus corner

Israeli’s raise a glass to Pfizer as lockdown ends [Search result] – FT

In 2018, diplomats warned of risky coronavirus experiments in a Wuhan lab. No one listened. – Politico

How Covid-19 has hammered women’s financial health – Pension Bee

The three major variants of Covid-19 [Infographic] – Visual Capitalist

Long Covid more likely in working age women than men – Guardian

How Covid spread through Westminster a year ago – Guardian

NFT mini-special: reprise

Jack Dorsey is selling his first Tweet – as an NFT – for millions – The Verge

In defense of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – Of Dollars and Data

Power to the Beeple [Podcast] – NPR

Will NFTs revolutionize the art market or repeat its failures? – Artnet

Why NFTs are here to stay – Continuations

NFTs are a dangerous trap – Seth Godin

Kindle book bargains

Keeping your Dividend Edge by Todd Wenning [Time-limited deal!] – £0.99 on Kindle

Business Adventures: 12 Classic Tales from Wall Street by John Brooks – £0.99 on Kindle

Money Saving Book: Simple Hacks for a Happy Life by Holly Smith – £0.99 on Kindle

Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth – £0.99 on Kindle

Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Fall of WeWork by Reeves Weideman – £0.99 on Kindle

Get a Kindle and dramatically reduce your risk of suffering paper cuts.

Environmental factors

Electric vehicles & future mobility: hockey stick growth mode [Click up/past pop-ups for a great overview] – Krane Shares

‘Default effect’ sees massive green energy switch – BBC

The fight for the Galápagos: race to expand reserve as fishing fleets circle – Guardian

Off our beat

What happened to me was nothing. The nothing women know all too well – Marina Hyde

Scientists unlock mysteries of world’s oldest ‘computer’ – BBC

John Kay: The rise of the ghost PLC – Prospect

How to put out democracy’s dumpster fire by remaking the Web – The Atlantic

The microwave economy – Dave Perell [hat-tip Abnormal Returns]

How a text saved singer Dan Reynold’s marriage – BBC

Excel never dies [Long, nerdy] – Not Boring

Thought-provoking and slightly terrifying dive into the past, present, and future of war [/defence, podcast] – Invest Like The Best

And finally…

“Along with longevity and climate change initiatives, farming forms part of the ‘Holy Trinity’ of investment opportunities in the next 50 years.”
– Jim Mellon, Moo’s Law

Like these links? Subscribe to get them every Friday! Like these links? Note this list includes affiliate links, such as from Amazon, Unbiased, and Freetrade. We may be  compensated if you pursue these offers – that will not affect the price you pay.

1. Note some articles can only be accessed through the search results if you’re using PC/desktop view (from mobile/tablet view they bring up the firewall/subscription page). To circumvent, switch your mobile browser to use the desktop view. On Chrome for Android: press the menu button followed by “Request Desktop Site”.

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