Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) finished Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, higher and then traded modestly in after-hours action—capping a volatile week in which crypto prices, regulatory headlines, and Coinbase’s push beyond pure crypto trading all competed for investor attention.
In regular trading, COIN closed at $245.12, up 2.47%, after ranging between $240.85 and $247.00, with about 10.61 million shares traded. [1]
After the closing bell, the stock was $245.78 (+0.27%) as of 6:16 p.m. ET, according to Yahoo Finance (after-hours prices can change quickly). [2]
Even with Friday’s bounce, the “why” behind Coinbase’s move is best understood as a three-part story: (1) Bitcoin and risk sentiment, (2) a fresh legal escalation around prediction markets, and (3) new stablecoin infrastructure headlines—including a high-profile funding partnership with Klarna.
What happened to Coinbase stock after the bell on Dec. 19, 2025?
Price action recap
- Close: $245.12 (+2.47%) [3]
- Day range: $240.85–$247.00 [4]
- Volume: ~10.61M [5]
- After hours (snapshot): $245.78 (+0.27%) at 6:16 p.m. ET [6]
The big driver Friday: Several market writeups tied COIN’s rebound more to a recovery in Bitcoin than to Coinbase’s legal news—important context because COIN often trades like a leveraged proxy for crypto prices and risk appetite. [7]
Also worth noting: Friday coincided with “quadruple witching,” when a large number of options and futures contracts expire—an event that can amplify late-week volatility and end-of-day flows across equities, including high-beta names like COIN. [8]
The headline risk today: Coinbase sues three states over prediction markets
One of the most consequential Coinbase-specific developments on Dec. 19 was a new legal offensive tied to the company’s planned expansion into CFTC-regulated event contracts (prediction markets).
Decrypt reports Coinbase filed federal lawsuits against Connecticut, Michigan, and Illinois, arguing that prediction markets fall under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s jurisdiction, not state gaming regulators. [9]
Key details investors are focusing on:
- The lawsuits come ahead of Coinbase’s planned January 2026 launch of CFTC-regulated event contracts through Kalshi, per Decrypt. [10]
- Coinbase points to prior enforcement activity in Illinois, including cease-and-desist letters sent earlier in 2025 to Kalshi, Robinhood, and Crypto.com over sports event contracts, and argues state actions create an “imminent” risk of intervention. [11]
- Barron’s characterized the stock’s early move as being driven more by Bitcoin’s rebound than by the lawsuits themselves, even as the court fight adds to headline-driven volatility. [12]
Why this matters for COIN: Coinbase’s “event contracts” push is part of a broader strategy to expand into adjacent asset classes and trading formats—potentially opening new revenue streams, but also inviting new regulatory and legal friction at the federal/state boundary.
Reuters described Coinbase’s broader expansion (announced this week) into stock trading and event contracts as the retail trading battle heats up, highlighting ongoing regulatory scrutiny around event contracts. [13]
Stablecoins are suddenly “front page” again: Custom Stablecoins + Klarna partnership
While the prediction-market lawsuits grabbed attention, the other major “today” story for Coinbase bulls is stablecoins—and Coinbase positioning itself as infrastructure, not just an exchange.
1) Coinbase “stablecoin-as-a-service” / Custom Stablecoins
Coinbase’s own product messaging this week centered on Custom Stablecoins, described as a “stablecoin-as-a-service” offering that lets businesses create custom-branded stablecoins backed 1:1 by collateral and custodied by Coinbase. [14]
Coinbase also highlighted the scale of stablecoin usage, saying stablecoins powered $9T in adjusted annual transaction volume in 2025 and citing a Citi projection that the market could reach $1.9T by 2030. [15]
Industry coverage on Dec. 19 framed this as Coinbase stepping deeper into the “plumbing” of digital dollars:
- PYMNTS reported Coinbase launched a program to help businesses create stablecoins and connected it to Klarna’s stablecoin funding effort. [16]
- FOW similarly reported Coinbase launching a stablecoin-as-a-service solution for businesses. [17]
2) Klarna adds USDC funding via Coinbase infrastructure
Klarna announced it has partnered with Coinbase to add USDC-denominated funding into its broader mix, aiming to raise short-term funding from institutional investors using Coinbase’s infrastructure. [18]
MarketWatch also summarized the move as Klarna teaming up with Coinbase to add stablecoin funding. [19]
Why this matters for COIN: Even if stablecoin infrastructure revenues are still early-stage compared with trading-driven cycles, this narrative supports Coinbase’s pitch that it can become a diversified financial platform—less dependent on spot crypto trading volatility over time.
The “forecast” angle today: Coinbase Institutional outlines a cautiously optimistic 2026 setup
A major forecast item dated Dec. 19 comes from Coinbase itself: its Coinbase Institutional “2026 Crypto Market Outlook.” [20]
In the report’s key takeaways and summary sections, Coinbase Institutional argues:
- Crypto markets could see transformative growth in 2026, helped by clearer regulation and accelerating institutional integration. [21]
- Stablecoins remain a top use case, and the report’s model forecasts total stablecoin market cap could reach a range centered around $1.2T by the end of 2028. [22]
- It also flags areas likely to matter for market structure and product innovation—tokenization, derivatives, and prediction markets—all themes directly aligned with Coinbase’s current “platform expansion” storyline. [23]
For COIN traders, the key point isn’t whether every projection proves correct—it’s that Coinbase is actively trying to pull investor focus toward a longer-duration thesis (infrastructure + broader trading) rather than pure “crypto spot volume beta.”
Analyst perspective: big targets, bigger disagreement
Wall Street remains divided on how to value Coinbase’s ambition to become an “everything exchange.”
Recent coverage and summaries show a wide spread of views:
- Investopedia highlighted Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Bedell’s positive take on Coinbase’s expansion strategy, citing a Buy view and a $340 target in that coverage. [24]
- MarketBeat’s Dec. 19 recap cited Cantor Fitzgerald cutting its target (while keeping an overweight rating), and also referenced other targets from firms like UBS. [25]
- MarketScreener reported Compass Point adjusting its Coinbase target to $230 while maintaining a Sell rating. [26]
Translation: investors heading into the next session should expect fast sentiment shifts whenever Bitcoin moves sharply, or when new legal/regulatory headlines hit the tape—because the market still doesn’t agree on Coinbase’s “right” valuation multiple.
What to know before the market opens “tomorrow” (and why the calendar matters)
Because Dec. 20, 2025 is a Saturday, U.S. stock markets are closed for the weekend. The next regular session is Monday, Dec. 22, 2025.
And with the holidays approaching, trading hours are a real part of the setup. Nasdaq’s calendar reflects holiday scheduling, and Reuters has reported that U.S. stock markets remain open on Dec. 24 and Dec. 26 (with a shortened session on Dec. 24) despite federal office closures. [27]
Your COIN checklist before the next opening bell
Here’s what market participants will likely watch most closely before Monday’s open:
1) Bitcoin and crypto “weekend tape”
Barron’s emphasized that COIN’s move was tied largely to Bitcoin rebounding, underscoring that crypto price direction remains the primary near-term swing factor for Coinbase stock. [28]
2) Any escalation (or response) in the prediction-markets fight
Coinbase’s lawsuits against CT, MI, and IL are designed to clarify jurisdictional lines before its January 2026 Kalshi-linked rollout, but legal timelines can create unpredictable headline risk. [29]
3) Follow-through on stablecoin infrastructure momentum
The combination of Custom Stablecoins positioning and a mainstream partner like Klarna using USDC-denominated funding rails keeps stablecoins in focus going into year-end. [30]
4) Operational reliability headlines (small, but watchable)
Coinbase’s public status page logged a Dec. 19 incident involving delayed sends/receives for Bittensor (TAO), which the company said was resolved and did not affect buys, sells, or fiat transfers. [31]
This is not typically a “make-or-break” stock catalyst, but repeated disruptions can matter at the margin for sentiment in a high-trust financial platform.
5) Macro + index/flow narratives around crypto-related equities
A separate Reuters story highlighted how index providers are scrutinizing certain crypto-exposed equity structures (particularly “bitcoin-hoarding” or digital-asset-treasury-style companies), with MSCI set to decide by Jan. 15 on proposed eligibility changes. [32]
Coinbase isn’t the focal example in that piece, but the broader takeaway is that index methodology and passive flows are becoming a more visible variable across the crypto-equity complex.
Bottom line for COIN heading into the next session
COIN ended Dec. 19 with a solid gain and modest after-hours movement, but the bigger story is the crosscurrent:
- Crypto price sensitivity remains the day-to-day driver. [33]
- Coinbase is pushing hard into new product lines (stocks, derivatives, prediction markets, tokenization) that could diversify the business—but also widen its regulatory exposure. [34]
- Stablecoin infrastructure is becoming a more central part of Coinbase’s narrative, reinforced today by the Klarna partnership and the company’s stablecoin product push. [35]
- Forecasting from Coinbase Institutional leans “cautiously optimistic” for 2026 themes—helpful for long-duration bulls, but unlikely to reduce short-term volatility on its own. [36]
References
1. www.investing.com, 2. finance.yahoo.com, 3. finance.yahoo.com, 4. www.investing.com, 5. www.investing.com, 6. finance.yahoo.com, 7. www.barrons.com, 8. www.marketwatch.com, 9. decrypt.co, 10. decrypt.co, 11. decrypt.co, 12. www.barrons.com, 13. www.reuters.com, 14. www.coinbase.com, 15. www.coinbase.com, 16. www.pymnts.com, 17. www.fow.com, 18. www.businesswire.com, 19. www.marketwatch.com, 20. www.coinbase.com, 21. www.coinbase.com, 22. www.coinbase.com, 23. www.coinbase.com, 24. www.investopedia.com, 25. www.marketbeat.com, 26. www.marketscreener.com, 27. www.nasdaq.com, 28. www.barrons.com, 29. decrypt.co, 30. www.coinbase.com, 31. status.coinbase.com, 32. www.reuters.com, 33. www.barrons.com, 34. www.reuters.com, 35. www.businesswire.com, 36. www.coinbase.com
