IPO Windfalls from Airbnb Could Boost Bitcoin: DCG CEO

Aside from MicroStrategy raising $650 million for Bitcoin this past week, one of the biggest news on financial Twitter was the Airbnb IPO. After months and even years of anticipation, the global peer-to-peer rental service went public on the stock market. While this came in the middle of a pandemic when the firm’s profits are slipping, the markets bid it higher anyway.

Airbnb’s stock, ABNB reached a $100 billion valuation just after it began trading. Further, the shares now trade for $139, despite the IPO closing at $68 per share.

This means that it is outperforming Bitcoin to some extent. Airbnb’s IPO is the latest in a series of large IPOs over the past year that have wowed the market.

Barry Silbert, CEO of Digital Currency Group, has postulated that Bitcoin may be an ultimate beneficiary of these IPOs. Here’s why he thinks so.

Bitcoin Could Get Boost from Airbnb Profits

The chief executive of the leading crypto-asset conglomerate and an early Bitcoin adopter, Silbert, postulated on Twitter that profits from these IPOs could make their way to Bitcoin:

“I have a sneaking suspicion that a good chunk of the recent IPO windfalls are going to find their way into BTC. Bunch of tech investors and employees coming into lots of cash. Where will they put it?”

As Silbert explains, many of these investors and even the Airbnb employees themselves are technology investors, and are naturally more acclimated to Bitcoin than Wall Street.

Case in point: Brian Armstrong, one of Airbnb’s first employees, is the chief executive of Coinbase.

Bitcoin could gain a boost as the hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars worth of profit made on this IPO may be allocated to BTC over time.

I have a sneaking suspicion that a good chunk of the recent IPO windfalls are going to find their way into bitcoin. Bunch of tech investors and employees coming into lots of cash. Where will they put it?
— Barry Silbert (@BarrySilbert) December 12, 2020

Crucial Part of Any Portfolio

This potential capital migration comes as the market has begun to view Bitcoin as an essential part of any portfolio.

For instance, MassMutual recently purchased $100 million worth of BTC as it seeks better returns in a world where many bonds yield nothing or yield even negative values.

Further, there is an increasing number of Wall Street banks that think Bitcoin may be seen as a viable store of value alternative to gold.