ChainCatcher, citing The Block, reported that Benchmark Equity Research has maintained its buy rating on Coinbase and set a $270 price target for the company’s shares. According to the report, that target represents roughly 59.5% upside from Coinbase’s current stock price. Benchmark’s view focuses not only on Coinbase’s role in spot crypto trading, but also on the company’s broader push into products and infrastructure that connect crypto markets with traditional finance.
Mark Palmer Says Coinbase’s Role Is Shifting
Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer said Coinbase’s recent system updates clearly show that the company is rapidly transforming from a cyclical crypto broker into an infrastructure platform linking the on-chain economy and traditional finance. In this framing, Coinbase is not described simply as a venue for buying and selling crypto assets. Instead, the report presents it as a platform seeking to support a wider set of financial products, trading services and payment-related infrastructure.
The report highlighted Coinbase’s product progress across several areas, including tokenized U.S. equities, stock and crypto options, prediction markets, AI investment tools and agentic payment infrastructure. These initiatives span trading, investment tools, payment systems and the representation of traditional assets in on-chain environments. Benchmark’s discussion places these products within Coinbase’s effort to expand beyond the spot crypto trading model that has historically defined much of its business.
CFTC Approval and Deribit Access Featured in the Report
Benchmark also pointed to Coinbase’s earlier approval from the CFTC to operate as a futures commission merchant, or FCM. Under the report’s description, Coinbase can use Deribit to provide U.S. customers with access to global crypto perpetual contracts and options trading. This element was included as part of Benchmark’s assessment of Coinbase’s expanding business boundaries, especially in derivatives, regulated market access and trading services for U.S. customers.
Benchmark said these moves show Coinbase continuing to broaden its business scope beyond spot crypto transactions. By maintaining the buy rating and $270 target, the firm framed Coinbase as an infrastructure platform serving the connection between the on-chain economy and traditional finance, rather than only as a brokerage tied to crypto market cycles.