The CEO of Coinbase urges investors to use his company's stock as a broad play on the crypto market

• Coinbase CEO made the case as to why traders should invest in his firm and not directly into cryptos.
• "We're also kind of what you might call an index bet or a leveraged bet on the crypto space more broadly," he told CNBC.
• He also said Coinbase supports over a hundred crypto assets - and will invest in more.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong on Wednesday made the case as to why traders should invest in his firm and not directly into the assets it trades.

"We're not tied to one particular crypto asset," he told CNBC in an interview on Wednesday. "We're also kind of what you might call an index bet or a leveraged bet on the crypto space more broadly."

The founder said Coinbase supports over a hundred crypto assets and will add support for more in the future.

Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, offers a wide variety of products including custodial accounts for institutions, digital wallets for retail investors, as well as its own US dollar stablecoin.

Yet, the company's eye-popping $100 billion valuation has been closely linked to bitcoin, which has surged to all-time highs in the past days ahead of Coinbase's listing.

On Wednesday, bitcoin jumped close to the $65,000-level. The rally extended to ether and dogecoin, both breaking previous highs as well.

Meanwhile, companies with exposure to bitcoin such as Tesla and MicroStrategy climbed during premarket trading Wednesday.

The debut of Coinbase via a direct listing on the Nasdaq is the first time a major cryptocurrency company has gone public.

The stock popped 13% when shares began trading Wednesday afternoon.

"The Coinbase IPO is a testament to the maturation of bitcoin and cryptocurrency," Alex Zhao, CEO of Standard Hashrate Group, told Insider. "With bitcoin now as mainstream as ever, we see the industry continuing to grow into the foreseeable future."

Despite the excitement, some experts may have some reservations.

"I believe Coinbase's direct listing will pose an interesting challenge to the wider crypto industry and market," Lior Messika, founder and managing partner of Eden Block, told Insider. "While the company's recent successes and imminent listing shine a bright light on the market's colossal growth, the inherent volatility of digital assets and overall infancy of the space might be reflected in the company's share price over time."