Goldman Sachs bullish on Coinbase! Recommends buying with a target price of 303 dollars, diversified exchange strategies receive approval

Goldman Sachs raises Coinbase’s investment rating to Buy, believing that its revenue structure shifting towards infrastructure and subscription services will help support growth through 2026. However, short-term profits remain constrained by competition and interest rate pressures.

Goldman Sachs (GS) released a 2026 industry outlook report, officially upgrading Coinbase (NYSE: COIN) from “Neutral” to “Buy.” Goldman believes that, with Coinbase’s recent launch of a series of new products and a gradual shift in revenue structure towards more “infrastructure-like” businesses, the company’s growth prospects are more optimistic; however, in the short term, profits are still challenged by intensified competition and increased sensitivity to interest rates.

Goldman also set a target price of $303 for Coinbase, representing a potential upside of up to 34% from the recent low of approximately $225. However, the report emphasizes that this upgrade is a “selective optimism for Coinbase” and does not indicate a broad bullish outlook for the entire cryptocurrency industry.

Goldman states that, due to increasingly fierce competition and the impact of the interest rate environment on business models, Coinbase’s adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) profit margins are unlikely to expand significantly by 2026, and overall may remain stable.

The analysts in the report noted that Coinbase is moving away from its past reliance on “cryptocurrency trading” as its sole revenue source. Data shows that the company’s “structural businesses,” including custody services, staking, and subscription services, now account for about 40% of revenue, up sharply from less than 5% five years ago.

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Compared to the highly volatile cryptocurrency trading income, these businesses are viewed as less volatile, with more stable cash flows, and better positioned to support the long-term trend of cryptocurrencies gradually integrating into the mainstream financial system.

This upgrade in Coinbase’s investment rating also reflects the series of new product launches announced by Coinbase last December, including US stock trading, prediction markets, derivatives, and more comprehensive banking and financial services.

Goldman believes that, over time, prediction markets and asset tokenization could develop into large markets. Whether they can generate substantial revenue depends on scale and liquidity, which are advantages Coinbase holds over other platforms, primarily due to its large existing user base, helping Coinbase gain an edge in the competition.

Nevertheless, Goldman remains cautious about Coinbase’s short-term profitability. The report points out that as traditional brokerages gradually offer cryptocurrency trading services and crypto-native companies actively expand into stocks, banking, and payments, the overall customer acquisition cost (CAC) in the market continues to rise, creating structural pressure on profit margins.

• This article is reprinted with permission from: “Block Guest”
• Original title: “US Institutional Giants Return! Bitcoin Surges Past $93,000, These 3 Indicators Signal a ‘Bullish Reversal’”
• Original author: Block Sister MEL