Coinbase to Buy Back Junk Bonds as Bitcoin Hovers Near 2023 High

Olivia Raimonde, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- Coinbase Global Inc. is offering to buy back some of its outstanding junk bonds as the world’s largest cryptocurrency trades at $29,560, near its highest value of the year.

The crypto exchange is offering to redeem as much as $150 million of its 3.625% notes due October 2031, according to a Monday statement. Investors who tender will be eligible to receive between $615 and $645 per $1,000 of principal, according to the statement. The offer will expire Sept. 1 at 11:59 p.m. New York time.

Bitcoin has been rising this week, edging closer to the 2023 peak of $31,386, which was reached in mid-July. The debt Coinbase is looking to retire traded at 62 cents on the dollar as the bond market closed Monday, up from a record low of 52 cents set in November.

The company has engaged Citigroup Global Markets Inc. to manage the tender offer.

Corporate borrowers have been looking to buy back debt as higher interest rates make it more expensive for company’s to refinance.

Warner Bros Discovery Inc. last week said it was planning to repurchase as much as $2.7 billion of bonds maturing between December 2023 and June 2024. On Tuesday, Verizon Communications Inc. boosted its bond buyback to more than $2.7 billion.

--With assistance from Yueqi Yang and Olga Kharif.

(Updates Bitcoin price, chart and context throughout.)