Bank of America has reset its forecast for the cryptocurrency company, Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN), after it evaluated the exchange's positioning for 2026.
Launched by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam in 2012, Coinbase operates the largest crypto exchange in the U.S.
The company went public in 2021 and made it to the S&P 500 index in May 2025.
BofA hails Coinbase's 'everything exchange' goal
Bank of America's research analyst Craig Siegenthaler said Coinbase's product expansion, strategic pivots, and a more compelling valuation set the crypto exchange up for strong performance into 2026.
Siegenthaler attributed the bank's turnaround in its outlook on the Coinbase stock to "product velocity acceleration and stock pullback" during the 2H 2025.
In fact, the COIN shares are down roughly 40% from their July highs, providing a more attractive entry point.
Coinbase is venturing beyond crypto into stocks, ETFs and prediction markets and the aggressive expansion is bringing its goal of becoming the “everything exchange” closer to reality, Siegenthaler argued.
The move would expand Coinbase's markets cross-selling opportunities, he added.
BofA highlights Coinbase's infrastructure model
Another major corner of Bank of America’s bullish call is Base, Coinbase’s layer-2 network built on Ethereum.
BofA looks at Base as a critical step in Coinbase’s evolution from a trading platform to a broader crypto infrastructure provider. It added that the launch of a native token in the future could be a meaningful catalyst, potentially raising billions of dollars.
In addition, Coinbase Tokenize is also a component that the bank is counting on.
Coinbase Tokenize “combines issuance, custody, compliance, and access to its sizable client base” and could turn Coinbase into a tokenization leader, the bank said.
From a valuation perspective, Bank of America noted that Coinbase’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio has compressed sharply since mid-2024, improving the stock’s risk-reward profile.
BofA sees Coinbase as long-term winner
Looking ahead, the bank BofA framed Coinbase as a long-term winner in an industry that is still early in its adoption curve.
The analyst also expects a more supportive regulatory environment in the U.S. under President Donald Trump to provide “sizable tailwinds” in 2026.
The bank believes Coinbase is increasingly well-positioned to cement its role as a dominant platform across trading, infrastructure and tokenization as the next phase of crypto adoption unfolds.
Bank of America has upgraded Coinbase to "Buy" and reiterated its price target of $340 for the company's stock.
The COIN stock was trading at $245.77 at the time of writing on Jan. 8. So, the stock needs to surge 38% to hit Bank of America's price target.