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Coinbase Quietly Builds the Future While Big Tech Fumbles

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In the relentless race to build the next dominant platform, tech giants have made bold but largely unfulfilled moves. Elon Musk has been aiming to transform X into an all-encompassing “everything app.” Mark Zuckerberg made a similar attempt and came up short. PayPal’s ambitions stalled in the process.

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Meanwhile, Coinbase has been steadily rolling out its own vision—without fanfare and largely unnoticed. The centerpiece? A product called the Base App.

Some in the industry have begun to describe it as “crypto’s WeChat,” a phrase meant to capture its multifaceted potential. Fortune reported that the Base App had managed to succeed where earlier Web3 applications had failed, while Yahoo described it as a crucial bridge toward mainstream adoption.

The response from Wall Street has been equally telling. Analysts have begun revising their outlooks, increasing their price targets for Coinbase stock as if the company were on the brink of a dot-com-style breakout.

JPMorgan Steps In as Coinbase Reinvents Itself
For years, Coinbase’s core revenue came from trading fees—a lucrative model during bull markets but vulnerable during market downturns. Recognizing this volatility, the company sought a more stable and scalable revenue stream. That path, it turned out, was USDC.

Coinbase had partnered with Circle—the creator of the USDC stablecoin—back in 2018. Since then, the arrangement has allowed Coinbase to earn yield on user-held USDC, share profits from new USDC issuance, and hold a significant equity stake in Circle valued at roughly $1.6 billion.

This model proved incredibly profitable. In Q1 2025 alone, Coinbase generated over $300 million from its USDC-related activities, with a profit margin of 66%. JPMorgan reportedly reviewed these numbers and concluded that the USDC business alone could be worth as much as $55–$60 billion.

As a result, JPMorgan officially joined forces with Coinbase. The banking giant announced its partnership to help make crypto purchases more accessible and user-friendly.

Starting in late 2025, Chase cardholders will be able to:

Redeem reward points for USDC

Purchase crypto directly through Coinbase

Seamlessly link their bank accounts to the platform

This positions Coinbase as the primary on-ramp into the crypto economy—supported by one of the largest banks in the United States. And with every transaction facilitated, Coinbase earns a share.

The Base App: Coinbase’s All-in-One Web3 Gateway

At the heart of Coinbase’s evolving strategy is the Base App, which combines:

A self-custody crypto wallet

A social platform where posts are tokenized and monetized

USDC-powered payments with tap-to-pay and cashback features

An integrated app store for decentralized tools, games, prediction markets, and AI agents

What makes this even more strategic is that the entire app ecosystem runs on Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain. Coinbase also controls the network’s sequencer—the component that verifies and processes all transactions. That means every post, tip, swap, or payment results in a small fee directed to Coinbase.

It’s a model akin to a toll road: Coinbase built the infrastructure and collects micro-fees as traffic flows through it.

Already, this has translated into substantial earnings. Sequencer fees alone are generating $25–30 million per month—equivalent to over $360 million annually and growing with user activity.

Coinbase’s bet is that the next wave of social media won’t emerge from traditional tech giants but from Web3-native platforms. The company is targeting creators who want direct monetization without relying on ads or sponsorships. In this ecosystem, content can be tokenized, tipped, and monetized in real time—akin to a crypto-native hybrid of TikTok and OnlyFans.

It’s a bold vision, and while the success of such a platform is far from guaranteed, even limited adoption among content creators could unlock massive value. And Coinbase owns the infrastructure.

Source: news.bitcoin.com

Source: news.bitcoin.com

Analysts Turn Bullish on Coinbase’s Web3 Evolution
The flood of new developments has prompted analysts to adjust their projections significantly. Investment banks have raised their price targets across the board:

Citi revised its target from $270 to $505

Jefferies increased from $260 to $405

Rosenblatt moved from $300 to $470

JPMorgan bumped its target from $400 to $450

These valuations suggest a shift in perception—from viewing Coinbase as a mere trading platform to seeing it as a foundational player in regulated crypto infrastructure and Web3 development.

At present, Coinbase trades at a lofty 70x earnings, which may seem excessive if one views it strictly through the lens of trading revenue. But if the Base App scales, USDC gains widespread use, and JPMorgan successfully integrates its offerings with Coinbase’s platform, then the company stands to become much more.

In that case, Coinbase would not just be a crypto exchange. It would be the operating system for the next era of the internet.

And its stock, $COIN, could emerge as Wall Street’s flagship for the Web3 economy.

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