Coinbase upgraded at JPMorgan following Bitcoin rally

Coinbase (NASDAQ:) was raised to neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan on Thursday, with the bank citing the surge in the Bitcoin price as its reason. Analysts at JPMorgan maintained an $80 price target on the stock.

They told investors that the Bitcoin rise takes both the crypto market and Coinbase’s earnings power higher.

JPMorgan had been quite concerned that the enthusiasm in Bitcoin over the last three months was being driven by unrealistic optimism for new money going into the cryptocurrency market through the newly approved and recently launched U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs.

“However, what was initially a sell-the-news event with the launch of U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs has now turned into meaningful Bitcoin price appreciation,” acknowledged the analysts at JPMorgan.

“In our opinion, we think this Bitcoin appreciation is contributing to better spot Bitcoin ETF flows, which is, in turn, driving Bitcoin prices higher and pulling other tokens higher as well,” they added.

After the acceleration in recent days of flows into Bitcoin ETFs and the significant price appreciation of Bitcoin and now Ethereum, the bank sees the higher cryptocurrency prices not only sustaining but improving activity levels and Coinbase’s earnings power.