How Westpac (ASX: WBC) Make Money With Bitcoin

At the mention of Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) probably it doesn’t conjure up images Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) trade. After all, Westpac is Australia’s oldest bank.

However, Westpac looks set to benefit from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies very soon. Possibly $ 500 million, no less.

How? Well, this is difficult (and no, Westpac itself is not going to sell bitcoins).

Westpac is one of the largest sponsors of a venture capital fund called Reinventure, “Westpac’s $ 150 million early-stage venture capital fund.” The two businesses are closely related and Westpac tells us that:

“[By] Working with Reinventure, Westpac has a deep understanding of technology and business models that can drive new customers and disrupt traditional financial services. Companies in the Reinventure portfolio not only gain access to Westpac capital, but can strategically capitalize on Westpac’s resources and expertise, allowing the company to scale faster.

One of the first investments of Reinventure was the American company Coinbase. Coinbase is currently one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. Coinbase tells us that Reinventure invested in Coinbase in 2015 during its Series C funding round. Well, it might be time to reap Westpac.

Westpac prepares to receive bitcoins

According to Coinbase, the company intends to go public on the US Nasdaq exchange. Listing will take place on April 14th. Obviously, Coinbase doesn’t believe in superstition because the Titanic hit an iceberg on the same day. His ticker code will be COIN for Class A shares. This seems to be the norm at the moment, his Class B shares (which give 20 votes per share) will not be publicly traded and will remain with the company’s insiders.

Coinbase is gaining momentum too. Just this morning, he published his income statement for the 2021 calendar year. In this report, Coinbase reported 56 million verified users, $ 225 billion in trade volume, $ 1.8 billion in revenue, and $ 1.1 billion in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITA). …

We do not yet know the listing price at which COIN shares will go. But according to the Australian Financial Review (AFR) report, it will be released next Wednesday. The report estimates Coinbase will be valued at between $ 70 billion and $ 100 billion when it does go public. If that were the case, Reinventure could have made an estimated $ 450 million in profit on its initial $ 50 million investment.

No doubt Westpac will be very pleased with his efforts if this does happen.

Sebastian Bowen owns Bitcoin stock. Parent company Motley Fool Australia Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and recommends shares of bitcoins. Motley Fool Australia does not hold positions on any of these shares. Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (in accordance with AFSL 400691). Courtesy of Bruce Jackson.