cryptopolitan.com
Coinbase is climbing again. The stock jumped 7% after Goldman Sachs upgraded it to buy and raised the 12-month target from $294 to $303. That means Goldman now expects a 28% gain from here. Coinbase had fallen 13% over the past year while the S&P 500 rose 15%, putting Coinbase far behind the market.
Goldman’s upgrade didn’t come out of nowhere. Analyst James Yaro said the stock’s slump gave investors a cheap entry point. “Higher valuation should come over time, as Coinbase shifts from cyclical to structural growth,” he wrote.
Yaro also said Coinbase is still pulling in more money than its peers and growing its market share, thanks to its size and name.
“COIN’s scale and brand recognition continue to drive above-average revenue growth, market share gains, with a best-in-class [customer acquisition cost],” he added.
Goldman sees growth in Coinbase’s crypto infrastructure business
Yaro believes Coinbase isn’t just a trading platform anymore. He pointed to the company’s subscription and services business, which includes custody, stablecoins, staking, and prime brokerage.
These businesses made up less than 5% of revenue in 2020, but now account for about 40%. He expects that to grow another 13% a year between 2025 and 2027. He said these services aren’t tied to trading volume, which should help lower profit swings.
Yaro called recent Coinbase products more competitive, especially in areas of long-term growth. He said the new offerings add to Coinbase’s core products, which he also expects to keep growing.
“We are constructive on COIN’s growing exposure to crypto infrastructure businesses through its subscription & services offerings, which should dampen earnings volatility over time,” he wrote.
Goldman’s message was clear: Coinbase is building a more stable and scalable business, even if the market doesn’t see it yet.
At the same time as the stock rose, Coinbase also started pulling back from Argentina. The company emailed users saying it will stop support for USDC and Argentine pesos from January 31st.
After that date, users won’t be able to buy or sell USDC using pesos or send pesos to bank accounts. Coinbase called this a “deliberate pause”, not a full exit. They said crypto-to-crypto trades will still work, and they plan to relaunch later with a better product.
Coinbase had only entered Argentina in 2025, right after winning approval from the country’s National Securities Commission (CNV).
At the time, Coinbase said 5 million people in Argentina were using crypto daily. The country has been a hot crypto zone, thanks to high inflation and strict capital rules. Coinbase saw that as a big opportunity. But for now, they’re dialing it back.
Still, they’re not giving up on the region. Forbes Argentina said Coinbase is staying in touch with local partners. One of them is Ripio, an Argentine exchange that rolled out a peso stablecoin (wARS) last year. Coinbase is also leaning on its Base ecosystem to keep some presence in the country.