Coinbase posted a $394 million net loss in Q1 2026. Benchmark’s response was to raise its price target.
Analyst Mark Palmer bumped his target on Coinbase Global (COIN) to $270 from $260 on May 12, reaffirming a Buy rating. The thesis isn’t about what Coinbase is today. It’s about what Coinbase is becoming: less a trading app that lives and dies by Bitcoin’s mood swings, more an infrastructure company powering what Palmer calls the “onchain economy.”
That framing matters because the quarterly numbers were, to put it diplomatically, not great. Revenue came in at $755.8 million, below expectations. The net loss of $394 million isn’t the kind of figure you’d typically celebrate with a price target increase.
Twelve businesses, each pulling $100 million
The company now runs twelve distinct monetized businesses, each generating roughly $100 million in annualized revenue. Derivatives revenue hit a record contribution during the quarter. Coinbase now accounts for approximately 50% of total USDC economics, meaning it captures half the revenue generated by the second-largest stablecoin in existence. And the company’s Base platform, its Layer 2 network built on Ethereum, saw stablecoin transaction volume grow 10x year-over-year, driven by AI and DeFi integrations.
