By Hannah Lang
(Reuters) – Garaxy Digital, founded by Mike Novogratz, made its NASDAQ debut on Friday, closing out a critical week of cryptocurrency in the public market, with Coinbase joining the S&P 500 and retail broker Etoro also unveiled.
Galaxy Digital, a crypto investment company specializing in AI data center infrastructure, was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, but after a long transition period it began trading on NASDAQ at $23.50 per share. The company’s shares were last traded at $24.89.
“I think we’re at the beginning of the race, not the end of the race,” Galaxy CEO and well-known crypto investor Nova Gratz said in an interview with Reuters. “Sometimes it feels like it was a very struggle. You ring the bell and you cross the finish line, but it’s a bell that really starts.”
Digital assets enjoy a revival under President Donald Trump, who has sought cash from the crypto industry on the campaign trail by pledging to become “crypto president.”
In his first week of office, Trump ordered the creation of a cryptocurrency working group to propose digital asset regulation. In March he signed an executive order to create a federal stockpile for Bitcoin.
These moves support the prices of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, which has risen more than 10% so far this year.
Robinhood Rival Etoro offers stocks and cryptocurrency to retail investors, but made its Nasdaq debut this week, securing a $5.644 billion valuation after a 34% rise in stocks on Wednesday.
Also this week, S&P announced that Coinbase will be the first digital asset player to be included in the S&P 500 index starting May 19th and benchmark.
“I think we’re the beginning of becoming a trend that other (crypto) companies are making public,” Novograts said.
(Reporting by Hannah Lang of New York, edited by Pete Schroeder and Jane Merriman)
