Coinbase Stock (COIN) Today: Ark Invest Buying, Argus Downgrade and Stablecoin Risks

Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) heads into the last days of November 2025 as one of the most hotly debated stocks in U.S. markets. A blowout third quarter, aggressive expansion into derivatives and token launches, and a powerful Bitcoin rally are pulling the stock higher. At the same time, a major insider selling spree, an Argus downgrade on valuation concerns, technical issues around USDC, and fresh regulatory scrutiny are tempering the enthusiasm. ^[1]

This article rounds up the key COIN stock news and developments investors are digesting as of November 29, 2025.

Where Coinbase Stock Stands After a Volatile November

Coinbase shares have whipsawed through November. After a strong run earlier in the month, the stock dropped roughly 17% from recent highs before rebounding in the last few sessions, according to recent performance summaries. ^[2]

On November 28, COIN traded in a range around the high $260s to high $270s. One intraday snapshot showed the stock moving between about $269 and $280, before a later quote put it near $249, roughly 7–8% above that day’s low. ^[3]

Despite the pullback, COIN remains dramatically higher than it was a year ago, helped by:

Bitcoin above $90,000 and renewed institutional interest in digital assets. ^[4]
The stock’s very high beta (around 3.7), meaning Coinbase shares tend to move several times more than the broader market in either direction. TechStock²+1

For traders, that volatility is the point. For long‑term investors, the question is whether Coinbase’s fundamentals – and the regulatory environment it operates in – justify the current valuation.

Q3 2025: Revenue Near $1.9 Billion, Profits Surge

The latest numbers from Q3 2025, reported on October 30, are the starting point for any COIN discussion right now.

From Coinbase’s shareholder letter and subsequent coverage:

Total revenue was about $1.9 billion, up 25% quarter‑on‑quarter. ^[5]
Transaction revenue reached $1.0 billion, up 37% QoQ, on total trading volume of $295 billion. ^[6]
Subscription and services revenue came in at $747 million, up 14% QoQ. ^[7]
Stablecoin revenue – mostly related to USDC – was $355 million in the quarter, up from about $247 million a year earlier. ^[8]
Net income was $432.6 million, with diluted EPS of $1.50. On an adjusted basis, diluted EPS was $1.44. ^[9]
Coinbase ended the quarter with $516 billion in assets on platform and nearly $11.9 billion in U.S. dollar resources. ^[10]

Reuters framed the quarter as Coinbase beating Wall Street estimates “as trading volumes surge,” with transaction revenue nearly doubling from a year earlier and subscriptions still growing more than 30%. ^[11]

The big story inside those numbers: stablecoins and recurring revenue.

From Trading Fees to “Everything Exchange”: Subscriptions Drive the Mix

A new analysis from S&P Global Market Intelligence (using Visible Alpha consensus estimates) suggests Coinbase is in the middle of a structural shift away from pure trading fees. ^[12]

Key points from that research:

Transaction revenue is expected to fall from 96% of Coinbase’s total revenue in 2020 to about 59% in 2025.
Subscription and services revenue – including USDC interest income, staking rewards, custody fees and Coinbase One membership – is forecast to reach about $2.9 billion in 2025, or 41% of total revenue, versus just 4% five years ago.
Within that, stablecoin‑related revenue is projected to jump 49% to $1.4 billion, and staking revenue to around $723 million in 2025.
Overall revenue is projected to grow about 12% in 2025 to $7.4 billion, helped by the acquisition of derivatives exchange Deribit and the launch of a token‑sales platform. ^[13]

This fits Coinbase’s self‑described ambition to become an “everything exchange”: not just a venue for spot crypto trades, but a broader infrastructure provider for stablecoins, derivatives, staking, prime brokerage and tokenized assets. ^[14]

Ark Invest Buys Big as Institutions Debate COIN

One of the most closely watched bullish signals this week came from Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest.

According to CoinDesk, Ark bought about $16.5 million worth of Coinbase shares on Wednesday, November 26, its largest COIN purchase since August 1. The buying spree came as COIN closed at $264.97, up 4.27% on the day, alongside Bitcoin reclaiming the $90,000 level. ^[15]

Separate coverage notes that Coinbase remains one of the top holdings in Ark’s flagship ARK Innovation ETF, underlining Wood’s conviction that COIN is a long‑term levered play on the crypto ecosystem. ^[16]

At the same time, other institutions have taken the opposite side of the trade, trimming positions after the stock’s huge run. Various recent filings show hedge funds cutting stakes and some long‑only managers locking in profits. TechStock²+2MarketBeat+2

The result: COIN has turned into a battleground stock among professional investors, with deep conviction on both sides.

Heavy Insider Selling: CEO, COO and Top Executives Cash Out

While Ark is buying, Coinbase insiders have been selling aggressively.

Public filings and aggregated insider‑trade data show: ^[17]

CEO Brian Armstrong
- Sold $8.4 million in stock on November 3, at prices around $335–$340 per share. ^[18]
- Sold another 40,000 shares on November 17 at an average price near $271.87, raising about $10.9 million. Cumulatively, Armstrong has sold roughly 190,000 shares since September, generating around $61 million in proceeds. ^[19]
COO Emilie Choi
- Sold 100,000 shares on November 11 at an average of about $310.88, a roughly $31 million transaction that cut her stake by more than a third. ^[20]
Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal
- Sold 11,955 shares around $246 per share, for proceeds close to $2.9 million, in late November. ^[21]
Other insiders
- An insider identified as Lawrence Brock sold 5,902 shares at about $250.58 on November 24, reducing his position by more than 90%. ^[22]

MarketBeat’s summary shows that in the past three months, Coinbase insiders have bought $0 of stock on the open market and sold roughly $235.8 million, even though insiders still hold about 17–18% of total shares. ^[23]

Insider selling does not automatically mean bad news – it can reflect diversification or tax planning – but the scale and timing (after a huge rally, and right as institutional money like Ark is buying) is a clear point of caution for some investors.

Analysts Split: Argus Downgrade vs. Wall Street Price Target Hikes

The analyst community is sharply divided on where COIN goes next.

Argus: Downgrade to “Hold” on Valuation

This week’s headline move came from Argus Research, which:

Downgraded Coinbase from “Buy” to “Hold” on November 25, sending shares down as much as 5% intraday to about $243. ^[24]
Argued that Coinbase’s stock already discounts “much of the good news,” despite strong Q3 results and S&P 500 inclusion. ^[25]
Flagged valuation concerns, with related coverage noting that COIN trades around 39× forward earnings on Argus’s estimates. ^[26]
Cut its 2025 EPS estimate from about $8.94 to $7.80 and its 2026 estimate from $9.56 to $6.55, reflecting expectations of slower growth after the recent boom. ^[27]

That downgrade, coming on top of the insider selling headlines, helped trigger one of November’s sharper pullbacks in the stock. ^[28]

Goldman Sachs: Neutral Rating, Lower Price Target

Earlier in the month, a GuruFocus summary reported that Goldman Sachs maintained a “Neutral” rating on COIN but cut its price target from $368 to $314, a reduction of about 14.7%. ^[29]

Goldman’s move highlights a broader concern: at current prices, a lot of future revenue and margin expansion is already built into the stock.

But Many Brokers Still See Upside

Other firms are more optimistic. The same GuruFocus and MarketBeat data sets show: ^[30]

Monness, Crespi, Hardt upgraded Coinbase to “Buy” with a $375 target in early November.
Mizuho kept a “Neutral” rating but raised its target from $300 to $320.
BTIG reiterated “Buy” with a target raised to $420.
Needham reiterated “Buy” with a $400 target. ^[31]
HC Wainwright upgraded the stock from “Sell” to “Buy” and lifted its target to $425. ^[32]

In aggregate:

GuruFocus reports an average 12‑month target around $383, with a high near $510 and a low around $226, implying meaningful upside from prices in the mid‑$200s when that data was compiled. ^[33]
MarketBeat lists one “Strong Buy,” 17 “Buy,” 9 “Hold” and one “Sell”, with an average price target just under $400 and a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy.” ^[34]

The message: Wall Street is broadly bullish but increasingly valuation‑sensitive, and recent downgrades show that further price appreciation may depend on Coinbase hitting ambitious growth and margin targets.

Texas Reincorporation and a New Regulatory Map

Coinbase’s biggest corporate‑governance headline in November was its decision to leave Delaware and reincorporate in Texas.

In a November 12 Reuters report, the company said it would move its legal home from Delaware to Texas, citing the Lone Star State’s more favorable business environment, lighter regulatory requirements, and new business‑court legislation. ^[35]

With an $80+ billion market cap at the time, Coinbase is one of the largest companies yet to join the so‑called “Dexit” trend away from Delaware. ^[36]
Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal criticized shifting Delaware court standards and expanded liability for controllers, referencing the high‑profile Delaware ruling that voided Elon Musk’s $56 billion Tesla pay package. ^[37]

In an Axios interview, President and COO Emilie Choi went further, predicting a wave of corporate relocations out of Delaware and saying companies are starting to “show their power with their feet.” She also warned that crypto could see another “mini winter” over the next year as retail activity cools from recent highs. ^[38]

On the regulatory front, two other November developments stand out:

Ireland AML Fine
- Ireland’s central bank fined Coinbase’s European arm €21.5 million for anti‑money‑laundering and counter‑terrorist‑financing monitoring failures.
- Regulators said around 30 million transactions were not monitored properly and 2,700 suspicious transactions were only identified after a system fault was fixed. ^[39]
- Coinbase said the issues were swiftly remediated and that it has enhanced its systems. ^[40]
GENIUS Act Stablecoin Rules
- The GENIUS Act, passed in July 2025, created the first comprehensive U.S. federal framework for stablecoins, requiring full backing with liquid assets and annual audits. ^[41]
- In early November, Coinbase publicly urged the U.S. Treasury to implement the law in a way that doesn’t smother innovation. The company argued that: ^[42]
  - Non‑financial software developers, validators and open protocols should be excluded from GENIUS compliance requirements.
  - Bans on interest should apply to issuers, not to exchanges offering rewards or loyalty programs funded by third parties.
  - Payment stablecoins should be treated as cash equivalents for accounting and tax purposes.

Coinbase’s message to regulators is clear: stablecoins are central to its growth story, and heavy‑handed implementation of the GENIUS Act could blunt one of its most important revenue streams. ^[43]

New Products: Token Launch Platform, Derivatives and On‑Chain Lending

Alongside regulation, Coinbase is pushing hard on product expansion.

Pre‑Listing Token Sales Platform

On November 10, the company announced a new platform that will let individual investors buy digital tokens before they list on the main Coinbase exchange. ^[44]

Coinbase plans to host about one token sale per month, using an algorithm to allocate tokens.
Investors will submit purchase requests during a one‑week window, potentially giving retail users earlier access to high‑profile token sales that previously skewed toward private allocations. ^[45]

Combined with its acquisition of fundraising platform Echo in a $375 million cash‑and‑stock deal – a platform that has already helped projects raise more than $200 million – Coinbase is clearly angling to become a central venue for primary token issuance and eventually tokenized securities. ^[46]

Derivatives and “Everything Exchange” Strategy

In derivatives, Coinbase has already closed its acquisition of leading options platform Deribit, which held an estimated 75%+ share of the crypto options market. Deribit contributed tens of millions of dollars of revenue in Q3 and is central to Coinbase’s push into options and perpetual futures, particularly for institutional clients. ^[47]

Taken together – Deribit, Echo, and the token‑sale platform – the strategy is to embed Coinbase more deeply into every stage of the crypto capital cycle, from issuance and trading to custody, leverage, and staking.

On‑Chain Lending via USDC

Coinbase has also launched an on‑chain lending product that allows users to borrow up to $1 million in USDC using ETH as collateral via the Morpho protocol, expanding its presence in DeFi‑style lending while keeping a Coinbase‑branded front end. ^[48]

That pushes Coinbase further into territory that is both a powerful growth area and a potential lightning rod for regulators.

Technical Issues: USDC Display Bug and Network Delays

Even as it leans into stablecoins, Coinbase has had to reassure users about USDC‑related technical issues.

On November 26–27, Coinbase reported an issue affecting the display of USDC balances on the Monad network for users on Coinbase.com and the mobile app. The company stressed that this was a display‑only bug, that funds were safe, and that buys, sells and fiat deposits/withdrawals remained unaffected while engineers worked on a fix. ^[49]
Earlier in November, Coinbase also reported delayed sends and receives on certain networks (including Flow and Celestia), again emphasizing that the issues were temporary and that user funds were safe. ^[50]

None of these incidents appear existential, but they underscore the operational complexity of running a global multi‑chain exchange and the reputational risk that comes with any stability problem – especially when stablecoins and payments are a growing share of revenue.

The Investment Case: Bull and Bear Forces Colliding

Putting all of this together, investors looking at Coinbase stock as of November 29, 2025 are weighing a set of conflicting forces.

Bullish factors

Strong profitability and growth: Q3 revenue near $1.9 billion, robust net income and adjusted EPS, plus rising transaction and subscription revenues. ^[51]
Business model evolution: A rapid shift toward recurring subscription and services revenue, projected to reach about 41% of total revenue next year, with stablecoins and staking as key drivers. ^[52]
Product breadth: Expansion into derivatives (Deribit), token issuance (Echo and pre‑listing platform), institutional payments (Citi partnership) and on‑chain lending all deepen Coinbase’s moat and fee opportunities. ^[53]
Institutional endorsement: Heavy buying from Ark Invest and a majority of analysts still rating the stock “Buy” or “Outperform,” with average price targets well above current levels. ^[54]

Bearish or cautionary factors

Rich valuation: COIN trading around high‑30× forward earnings on some estimates, prompting Argus to downgrade the stock and cut EPS forecasts. ^[55]
Heavy insider selling: Senior executives have sold hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of stock in recent months, while insiders as a group have been only sellers, not buyers. ^[56]
Regulatory and compliance risk: The Irish AML fine, evolving U.S. stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act, and broader global scrutiny mean compliance missteps can be costly. ^[57]
Operational risk and outages: The recent USDC display bug and network delays, while not catastrophic, highlight the potential for technical incidents to erode trust. ^[58]
Macro and crypto cyclicality: Coinbase’s fortunes remain tightly linked to Bitcoin prices, trading volumes, and broader risk appetite – all of which can reverse quickly. ^[59]

Bottom Line

As of November 29, 2025, Coinbase sits at the crossroads of several powerful trends:

The institutionalization of crypto, with big banks like Citi and asset managers like Ark increasingly involved. ^[60]
The regulation of stablecoins and digital assets, where laws like the GENIUS Act could either cement or constrain Coinbase’s role. ^[61]
A shift from a cyclical, trading‑fee‑driven business to a more diversified recurring‑revenue model built on custody, staking, stablecoins, and on‑chain services. ^[62]

Whether COIN is attractive at today’s price depends largely on how an investor weighs those forces – and how comfortable they are with a stock that can move several percent in a single session on news of a rating change, a network hiccup, or a tweet from a major shareholder.

#arkinvest verkauft Coinbase-Aktien im Wert von 43,8 Millionen US-Dollar – Aktie nahe Allzeithoch