Benchmark Equity Research reiterated its Buy rating on Coinbase (COIN) and maintained a $270 price target after the crypto exchange's System Update, saying the product rollout demonstrated the company's evolution beyond a crypto trading venue into broader financial and onchain infrastructure.

Coinbase shares closed at $169.27 on Tuesday, down 0.2% on the session, according to The Block’s COIN price page. Benchmark’s $270 target implies roughly 59.5% upside from that closing price.

In a note to clients on Wednesday, Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer said the update advanced Coinbase’s “everything exchange” strategy through a broad suite of product launches spanning tokenized U.S. equities, stock and crypto options, pre-IPO perpetual futures, prediction markets, AI-powered investing tools, agentic payments infrastructure, and consumer finance products.

“In our view, the company’s update yesterday provided the clearest evidence yet that it is rapidly evolving from a cyclical crypto brokerage into a foundational infrastructure platform linking the emerging onchain economy to the traditional one,” Palmer wrote.

Benchmark also described what it termed one of the most significant announcements from Tuesday’s presentation as regulatory in nature. The firm pointed to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s approval last month, allowing Coinbase to operate as a regulated Futures Commission Merchant offering U.S. clients access to global crypto perpetual futures and options through Deribit, the Dubai-based exchange it acquired for $2.9 billion last year.

That approval supports Coinbase’s plan to consolidate liquidity across jurisdictions, according to the note, enabling U.S. and international customers to access a broader range of products through a single marketplace. 

Benchmark said the unified liquidity model underpins the company’s wider "everything exchange" strategy by bringing historically offshore products, including perpetual futures and options, into a regulated U.S. framework.

The research firm also cited Coinbase’s expansion of prediction markets through new crypto binary contracts, the launch of Coinbase Advisor for U.S. Coinbase One subscribers, and infrastructure initiatives tied to Base, including tools designed to support AI agents and digital payments. 

Benchmark said the additions are further evidence supporting its view that Coinbase is broadening its business beyond spot crypto trading.