Coinbase Stock Target Raised 65% by Bernstein Amid Legislative Momentum

Global equity research firm Bernstein has predicted that the shares of American cryptocurrency exchange giant Coinbase could potentially rally by another 50%. The stock has maintained an "Outperform" rating from the firm, with Bernstein's target being raised to $510 from $310.

Coinbase is up 1.97% on Wednesday after rallying by an impressive 32% over the past month. The fact that Coinbase is the only cryptocurrency firm on the S&P 500 index has been singled out as one of the key bullish catalysts. The cryptocurrency industry is currently enjoying significant legislative momentum in the U.S. Congress with the recent passage of the much-talked-about stablecoin legislation in the Senate. Coinbase is, of course, set to benefit from it.

Bernstein has also pointed out that Coinbase has the largest stablecoin business among exchanges. Earlier this month, it announced a partnership with Shopify, which makes it possible for merchants to accept stablecoin USDC payments. Moreover, Coinbase recently announced that it had agreed to acquire options giant Deribit for $3 billion last month. This is the largest acquisition deal in crypto history that will give the company a massive boost in the derivatives sector.

Finally, the exchange giant also acts as custodian for eight out of 11 Bitcoin ETF asset managers, meaning that it enjoys strong institutional trust. Bernstein has opined that Coinbase is actually the most "misunderstood" company.