Coinbase shares spiked 8% after Goldman Sachs upgraded COIN from “neutral” to “buy” as it upped its 12-month price target on its growing diversification.
In a report on Monday, Goldman Sachs analyst James Yaro said the bank has “selective optimism” about US brokers and “structurally growing crypto infrastructure businesses” such as Coinbase.
The firm upgraded COIN to “buy” and also raised its 12-month price target from $294 to $303 per share. COIN closed the day with an 8% gain, sitting at $254.92 at the time of writing, with minimal action in after-hours markets.
At the current price, Goldman Sachs’ 12-month price target would represent an 18% gain from here.
In the report, Yaro pointed to strong growth potential in crypto firms like Coinbase, which are working on broader initiatives beyond just crypto trading, as he highlighted infrastructure plays, tokenization and prediction markets.
According to recent comments from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, the firm is doubling down on its “everything exchange” strategy as he outlined plans to prioritize stablecoins, broaden exchange services and its Ethereum layer-2 Base in 2026.
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Coinbase also recently integrated prediction markets into its platform in partnership with Kalshi, as the firm pushed to capitalize on one of the fastest-growing sectors in crypto last year.
Goldman Sachs is optimistic about crypto in 2026
Commenting more broadly on the crypto market, Yaro said the bank expects greater adoption in 2026 from both retail and institutions, as he pointed to regulatory developments in the US that may bolster the industry:
“Our base case includes further crypto regulatory reform, catalyzing further broad-based crypto adoption, and use cases beyond crypto trading, most importantly among institutions, whose adoption thus far has been limited.”
“We acknowledge that further regulatory reform, in particular, the US Congress’ draft crypto market structure bill would be key to crypto ecosystem growth; the bill failing to pass could be a substantial headwind,” he added.
The report marks a strong vote of confidence in Coinbase and positive sentiment toward crypto from the bank and its analyst. According to data from TipRanks, Yaro has a 62% success rate and an average return of almost 16% per year.
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