Crypto's Next Catalyst Could Be Tokenized Stocks: Clear Street Raises Bullish, Coinbase Targets

• Clear Street raised its Coinbase price target to $224 from $204 while maintaining a ‘Buy’ rating.
• Analyst Owen Lau said Coinbase’s development into stock derivatives and an IPO will spur new product launches and challenge the current market structure.
• Shares of COIN edged higher while shares of BLSH dropped lower in morning trade even as Bitcoin held the $86,100 level.

Shares of Coinbase Global, Inc. (COIN) edged higher while shares of Bullish (BLSH) edged lower early morning on Tuesday after Clear Street raised price targets on both stocks.

In a note to investors cited by TheFly, Clear Street analyst Owen Lau raised the firm’s price target on Coinbase to $224 from $204, while maintaining a ‘Buy’ rating on the shares. The analyst added that Coinbase filed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to list cash-settled, perpetual-style futures on individual U.S. stocks, covering some 50-60 names including Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Nvidia (NVDA) and Tesla (TSLA).

Coinbase Product Expansion

Lau said that the filing can drive more product launches at Coinbase and “disrupt the status quo in the existing market structure.” The firm adds that perpetual futures on single stocks in the U.S. could be coming sooner than expected.

Clear Street’s $224 price target implies an 11.4% upside for Coinbase from Monday’s close of $201. 

Clear Street’s bet on Coinbase comes as the crypto firm has increased access to primary financial markets by offering initial public offering allocations to U.S. retail traders. One example the company cited is Oura’s IPO, which begins this week, where eligible customers can request shares at the offer price before open-market trading. 

The company said the new feature is another step in the growth of the ‘Everything Exchange,’ as US customers will now get early exposure to high-interest companies before they hit public exchanges as a “Conditional Offer to Buy.”

COIN stock was up over 0.8% in morning trade. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around COIN improved to ‘neutral’ from the ‘bearish’ zone, while chatter stayed at ‘high’ levels over the past day.

Why Clean Street Hiked Price Target Despite CLARITY Act Setback

The broader crypto-equity landscape also featured a bullish call on Bullish. Clear Street set a price target of $43 on BLSH stock, raising it $37. The company still rated the shares as ‘Buy.’ The firm said the failure of the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act would not slow crypto use in the U.S. 

Instead, the setback would speed up product development over the next two years, the analyst wrote, echoing a similar sentiment shared by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. Clear Street said issuers would benefit most, since brokers and venues for tokenized securities are actively looking for ways to tokenize stocks.

Clear Street sees a 7.5% upside for Bullish from Monday’s close of $40. 

BLSH stock was down 0.5% in morning trade. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around BLSH remained in the ‘Bullish’ zone, accompanied by ‘high’ chatter levels over the past day.

This comes amid a broader weakness in crypto equities despite Bitcoin (BTC) pushing back above $86,100. 

Read also: DOGE, SUI, SOL, XRP Rally Faster Than Bitcoin As BTC Hits 8-Month High

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com