U.S. investment bank Benchmark has maintained its Buy rating and $270 price target for Coinbase Global (COIN), citing the crypto exchange’s accelerating transformation into a multifaceted infrastructure platform. The reiteration follows a Tuesday event where Coinbase unveiled a sweeping suite of upcoming products that extend its reach far beyond crypto trading into equities, derivatives, artificial intelligence, and consumer finance.
Benchmark-StoneX Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst Mark Palmer wrote in a Wednesday note that the ambition on display was “sweeping enough to put every brokerage, bank, and fintech in the country on notice.” He highlighted that the company’s update provided “the clearest evidence yet that it is rapidly evolving from a cyclical crypto brokerage into a foundational infrastructure platform linking the emerging on-chain economy to the traditional one.”
During the event, Coinbase announced plans to launch tokenized U.S. equities — shares backed 1:1 with real stock and featuring automatic dividend payouts, a feature the company claims differentiates it from existing tokenized stock products it labels as derivatives. It also plans to roll out options trading for both crypto and traditional equities, and will allow users to transfer existing stock portfolios onto its platform. Other reveals included the ability to borrow against staked Solana, a Coinbase One Card travel portal offering 5% Bitcoin rewards, USDC-backed card access, and new short-term crypto price-prediction contracts.
Benchmark’s $270 target, implying a nearly 60% upside from COIN’s Tuesday close above $169, reflects confidence that Coinbase can move away from its historical reliance on volatile spot trading volumes and build more predictable, recurring revenue streams. The stock was roughly flat on Wednesday, trading near $169, while it has fallen 13% over the past month and 25% year-to-date amid broader crypto market declines. In May, Coinbase announced a 14% staff reduction and an increased reliance on artificial intelligence, while reporting a second consecutive quarterly loss of $394 million for Q1 2026.
Despite near-term headwinds including regulatory uncertainty and execution risks, Benchmark’s outlook underscores a growing consensus that Coinbase’s long-term value lies in its infrastructure ambitions — a pivot that could position it as a central gateway between decentralized applications and traditional finance.
