Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) has had a rough ride lately, with shares down 40% from their July highs. But Bank of America Securities thinks now's the time to get bullish, upgrading the crypto exchange to Buy.
What's Driving the Optimism?
Analyst Craig Siegenthaler moved his rating from Neutral to Buy while maintaining a $340 price target. Sure, the crypto correction in the fourth quarter put pressure on the stock, but he sees bigger things happening beneath the surface.
The company's "product velocity has increased," according to Siegenthaler, and its total addressable market keeps expanding. Last month, Coinbase detailed plans to move into stock and ETF trading plus prediction markets—all part of becoming the "everything exchange" and cross-selling more products to existing users.
Beyond Traditional Trading
Base, Coinbase's blockchain network designed to be decentralized and permissionless, is central to the infrastructure expansion story. Siegenthaler noted that launching a native token would "incentivize builders, creators and early adopters" and could potentially raise "billions in cash."
Then there's Coinbase Tokenize, recently launched to combine issuance, custody, compliance, and access to the company's "sizable" client base—another avenue for growth beyond spot crypto trading.
COIN Price Action: Shares declined 0.14% to close at $245.59 on Thursday.
