Coinbase Global (COIN) co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong has long argued that Congress needed to create a regulatory structure for the crypto industry in order to keep startups from taking their business offshore or overseas.
This has been especially important because about 52 million people in the United States have used crypto, according to Armstrong.
And after years of lobbying by Armstrong and others in the industry, that regulatory framework has finally started to take shape in the U.S.
It began with the Security Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval of spot bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs last year, opening the door for some of Wall Street’s biggest firms to launch their own crypto products.
Earlier this month, the Senate passed the GENIUS Act — short for the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins of 2025 Act — which lays out rules for U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins.
The legislation is seen as a landmark step for the crypto industry in the United States, giving it the regulatory clarity it’s been seeking from Capitol Hill.
And as the only publicly traded crypto exchange in the U.S. — with a significant institutional business – Coinbase arguably stands to benefit as much as anyone from the increased regulatory clarity.
That appears to be happening for the company, with its stock soaring 30.4% since the GENIUS Act was passed.
Its share price has now surged 38.9% YTD and 62.4% over the past year. And some on Wall Street think the stock still has more runway ahead of it.
Benchmark recently raised its price target for COIN to $421 from $301, citing the “legislative and regulatory momentum creating a more favorable operational environment” for Coinbase.
“While this had already been a transformational year for Coinbase Global (COIN) prior to last week, the flurry of news about the company and the environment in which it operates that emerged over the past few trading sessions was remarkable,” Benchmark wrote.
The recent news appears to “affirm or boost COIN’s long-term growth prospects,” the analysts added, and “additional, significant news supportive of COIN may be in the offing such that a path to a meaningfully higher price for the stock may be coming into view.”
The company recently announced that it was acquiring crypto derivatives exchange Derbit for its institutional business, which now makes it the largest crypto derivatives exchange by open interest and options volume.
The company also revealed its plans at its annual State of Crypto Summit this week to ramp up its payments business, centered around stablecoins.
This effort includes Coinbase’s new partnership with Shopify (SHOP), which will allow consumers to pay for goods with USDC on its Base platform through Shopify Payments
Meanwhile, Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest bought an additional 4,198 shares of Coinbase on Tuesday, worth $1.3 million.
Coinbase is the second-largest holding for the ARK Innovation ETF with about 1.8 million shares, worth roughly $548.7 million.
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