Coinbase (COIN) shares rose 4.6% after the company outlined a roadmap that includes equity trading, artificial intelligence tools, tokenization and stablecoin infrastructure in a year-end system update.
The stock rose to $255.41 early Thursday morning and was recently trading at $249.48 following Wednesday’s announcement.
JPMorgan’s Kenneth Worthington said the event shows Coinbase is expanding its reach by introducing more asset classes and tools to keep users engaged. He emphasized that the launch of U.S. stock trading, perpetual stock futures for non-U.S. users, and Coinbase Advisor products show that the company is reinventing its core business.
“Coinbase’s announcement last night underscores that it is providing customers with more products to trade,” he wrote on Thursday, adding that the expansion “meaningfully increases” Coinbase’s total addressable market. While revenue details are scant, Worthington said he sees opportunities in subscription and transaction-based models. He also pointed out that launching a branded stablecoin and expanding the underlying application are important steps towards long-term participation.
JPMorgan Chase gave Coinbase an overweight rating and a price target of $244.19.
Read more: Coinbase launches stock trading, prediction markets, and more as it strives to become the ‘exchange for everything’
Clear Street analyst Owen Lau shared a similar view, calling the update a coordinated product expansion that marks Coinbase’s transformation from a pure cryptocurrency exchange to a broader financial platform. He pointed to the addition of stock trading as a significant shift, especially since the company had previously downplayed the idea. Liu said the move could signal future plans to offer tokenized shares.
The introduction of AI advisors is also notable. Liu said it could become a valuable tool for simplifying investment decisions and improving customer retention, especially for less experienced users. He noted that direct deposit capabilities and crypto loans could help Coinbase gain traction as a major financial account, although competing with traditional banks for payroll deposits will be a challenge.
Derivatives remain a core part of the growth strategy, Liu wrote, citing the launch of stock futures with up to 20 times leverage and round-the-clock market access. Lau said that because derivatives tend to generate higher trading volume and revenue stability, they could help reduce Coinbase’s earnings volatility over time. Coinbase announced in May its acquisition of cryptocurrency options exchange Deribit for $2.9 billion.
Clear Street has a buy rating on Coinbase with a price target of $415.
Citi analysts led by Peter Christiansen said the update is a milestone that expands access to new and traditional assets while building payments, development tools and tokenization tracks that may deepen liquidity over time.
Analysts led by Peter Christiansen wrote that the event highlights Coinbase’s efforts to expand its broader range of assets, which “deepens the platform’s competitive moat.”
Analysts also point to payments and remittance utilities tied to the stablecoin USDC and the newer x402 payments as steps to diversify revenue and enable new use cases such as agency commerce.
Upgrading Coinbase’s developer tools through CDPs, as well as efforts to connect on-chain functionality to traditional finance through tokenization and on/off ramps, reinforce the company’s ambitions to become the “operating system” for on-chain activity, analysts said.
Citi called Coinbase’s “Everything Exchange” plan ambitious and said investors needed solid execution, including clearer disclosures on how it would be executed, and greater regulatory certainty to overcome near-term volatility and focus on longer-term catalysts.
The bank said it still believes the upside is too great to ignore and continues to see Coinbase’s category leadership strengthening, maintaining its Buy rating and $505 price target.
In comparison, Barclays has an equal weight rating on Coinbase with a price target of $291.