Coinbase Is the Most Misunderstood Business in Crypto; Bernstein Hikes Price Target to $510

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By Will Canny, AI Boost|Edited by Stephen Alpher

Jun 25, 2025, 1:06 p.m.

Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange app on smartphone (Chesnot/Getty Images)
  • Bernstein lifted its Coinbase price target to $510 from $310 and reiterated its outperform rating on the shares.
  • Coinbase is cementing its role as crypto’s universal bank, the report said.
  • The exchange is the only crypto-native firm in the S&P 500 and continues to dominate U.S. trading despite competitive pressure, the broker said.

Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) remains one of the most misunderstood companies in the digital assets space, Wall Street broker Bernstein said in a research report Wednesday.

Bernstein raised its Coinbase price target to $510 from $310, and reiterated its outperform rating on the stock. The shares Wednesday morning were more than 4% higher at around $360 in early trading.

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While broader sentiment leans bearish, Coinbase is cementing its role as crypto’s “universal bank,” and is bridging retail, institutional, and on-chain infrastructure at a scale unmatched by peers, the report said.

“Coinbase will be a beneficiary of the GENIUS Act and soon to follow CLARITY Act,” analysts led by Gautam Chhugani wrote.

Bernstein said the exchange is the only crypto-native firm in the S&P 500 and continues to dominate U.S. trading despite competitive pressure.

Coinbase’s stablecoin business, responsible for roughly 15% of total revenue, is scaling rapidly with integrations like Shopify, the report noted.

On the institutional side, Coinbase powers custody for eight of the eleven Bitcoin ETF issuers, the broker noted.

With its recent acquisition of Deribit, the largest crypto options exchange globally, and the explosive growth of its Ethereum Layer 2 network, Base, which is already hosting tokenization pilots like JPMorgan’s JPMD coin, Coinbase is quietly assembling the core infrastructure of the next financial system, the report added.

Read more: Coinbase Is Well Positioned to Benefit From U.S. Crypto Regulatory Clarity: Benchmark

Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

Will Canny is an experienced market reporter with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry. He’s now covering the crypto beat as a finance reporter at CoinDesk. He owns more than $1,000 of SOL.

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“AI Boost” indicates a generative text tool, typically an AI chatbot, contributed to the article. In each and every case, the article was edited, fact-checked and published by a human. Read more about CoinDesk’s AI Policy.

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