Goldman Sachs Sees Upside in Coinbase as Crypto Infrastructure Expands

Coinbase shares surged on Monday after Goldman Sachs upgraded the crypto exchange’s stock, pointing to growing confidence in the company’s diversification strategy and the broader outlook for crypto infrastructure firms heading into 2026.

Goldman Sachs Upgrades Coinbase To Buy

Shares of Coinbase (COIN) jumped over 7% after Goldman Sachs raised its rating from “neutral” to “buy” and increased its 12-month price target. The bank lifted its target from $294 to $303 per share, citing Coinbase’s expanding business lines beyond traditional crypto trading.

Coinbase share price (Source: Google Finance)

COIN closed the session at $254.92, marking one of its strongest single-day gains in recent months. After-hours trading showed minimal additional movement. At current levels, Goldman’s revised target implies roughly 18% upside over the next year.

In a research note published Monday, Goldman Sachs analyst James Yaro said the firm has “selective optimism” toward U.S. brokers and what it describes as “structurally growing crypto infrastructure businesses.” Coinbase, he argued, is increasingly positioned as a long-term infrastructure play rather than a pure trading platform.

Diversification Beyond Trading Fees

Yaro emphasized that Coinbase’s growth potential lies in its ability to reduce reliance on transaction fees tied to volatile market cycles. Instead, the company is expanding into infrastructure services, tokenization, and adjacent crypto markets that could provide more stable revenue streams.

According to the report, those initiatives position Coinbase to benefit even during periods of muted trading activity, while still offering upside during bullish crypto cycles. Goldman highlighted tokenization and emerging on-chain financial services as particularly promising areas, especially as institutional interest continues to build.

The diversification narrative has become increasingly important for publicly traded crypto firms as investors look for predictable cash flows and clearer long-term growth paths.

Armstrong’s “Everything Exchange” Vision

Goldman’s thesis closely mirrors recent comments from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who has said the company is doubling down on its “everything exchange” strategy.

Armstrong has outlined plans to prioritize stablecoins, expand Coinbase’s exchange services, and continue developing its Ethereum layer-2 network, Base, through 2026. The goal, he has said, is to make Coinbase a central hub for a wide range of on-chain financial activity rather than a platform centered solely on spot trading.

Stablecoins, in particular, are expected to play a growing role as regulatory clarity improves and on-chain payments gain traction among both consumers and institutions.

Push Into Prediction Markets

Coinbase has also made a notable push into prediction markets, one of the fastest-growing segments in crypto over the past year. The company recently integrated prediction markets into its platform through a partnership with Kalshi, giving users access to regulated event-based markets directly within the Coinbase ecosystem.

The move is part of a broader effort to capture new user activity and diversify engagement, particularly around political, economic, and macro-driven events. 

Prediction markets have drawn increased attention from traders seeking alternative ways to express views on real-world outcomes, and Coinbase’s integration positions it to benefit from that trend.

Optimism For Crypto Adoption In 2026

Beyond Coinbase specifically, Goldman’s report struck an optimistic tone on the crypto market more broadly. Yaro said the bank expects increased adoption from both retail and institutional participants in 2026, driven in large part by regulatory developments in the United States.

“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,” Yaro wrote.

At the same time, he cautioned that the outlook depends heavily on policy outcomes. The analyst noted that the U.S. Congress’ draft crypto market structure bill would be a key catalyst for ecosystem growth, while failure to pass such legislation could represent a significant headwind for the industry.

A Vote Of Confidence From Wall Street

The upgrade represents a strong vote of confidence from one of Wall Street’s most influential banks at a time when sentiment toward crypto equities is improving. 

According to TipRanks data, Yaro has a 62% success rate on his stock calls, with an average annual return of nearly 16%.

For Coinbase, the Goldman Sachs upgrade reinforces a growing investor narrative: that the company’s long-term value may be driven less by short-term trading volumes and more by its role as core infrastructure for the next phase of the digital asset economy.