Benchmark Sets $270 Target on Coinbase After Product
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- Benchmark-StoneX reiterated a $270 price target on Coinbase (COIN) on Wednesday, representing a nearly 60% upside from Tuesday's closing price above $169.
- Mark Palmer, Benchmark's Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst, said Coinbase is "rapidly evolving from a cyclical crypto brokerage into a foundational infrastructure platform linking the emerging on-chain economy to the traditional one."
- Coinbase unveiled tokenized U.S. equities with 1:1-backed shares and automatic dividend payouts, options trading for both crypto and traditional stocks, stock portfolio transfers, borrowing against staked Solana, and a Coinbase One Card travel portal offering 5% Bitcoin rewards.
- COIN shares are flat on the day near $169 but down 13% over the past month and 25% year-to-date amid declining crypto markets.
- In May, Coinbase announced a 14% staff cut and reported a second consecutive quarterly loss of $394 million for Q1 2026, contrasting with Palmer's bullish thesis.
- Palmer described the product suite as "sweeping enough to put every brokerage, bank, and fintech in the country on notice," highlighting Coinbase's push to become an "everything exchange."
Why it matters: Benchmark's $270 target implies a 60% rally even as COIN sits 25% below its year-start price following a $394 million quarterly loss and a 14% workforce reduction. The gap between the bearish fundamentals and the bullish analyst call hinges entirely on whether Coinbase's tokenized equities and options products can successfully pull traditional finance onto its platform.
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