Clear Street analyst Owen Lau has revealed his top three fintech ideas for 2026 and his third pick surprisingly belonged to a cryptocurrency company's stock.
Lau chose two giants from the financial services sector, Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) and S&P Global (Nasdaq: SPGI), and one crypto company, Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN), CoinDesk reported on Dec. 26.
Launched by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam in 2012, Coinbase went public in 2021.
Apart from being the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., Coinbase also operates exchange platforms in more than 100 countries across the globe. The company made it to the S&P 500 index in May this year.
Related: Coinbase users lose $16 million in crypto scam
Lau grants Buy rating to Coinbase
Lau has more than a decade of experience in equity research, specializing in financial technology across global capital markets.
In his new outlook report, he saw the crypto exchange as a central company in the pivot toward blockchain-based financial infrastructure.
Coinbase is best positioned to benefit from blockchain adoption and regulatory clarity, Lau added. He highlighted the crypto company's rising revenue from subscriptions, stablecoins and on-chain financial services.
He argued that Coinbase diversifying away from volatile spot trading into areas like tokenization, payments and derivatives could help it survive crypto market cycles better than earlier, he argued.
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Several catalysts, including U.S. legislation on crypto market structure and stablecoins , could help re-rate Coinbase's valuation in 2026, Lau said. The company's foray into prediction markets, the "superapp" plan, and AI-based tools could be its new growth levers, he added.
2026 will be a "transition year" for crypto equities when investors will look at signs of real adoption instead of trading volumes, Lau wrote.
A strong balance sheet, global footprint, and a diversified suite of products put Coinbase in an ideal position to benefit from this transition, he added.
Lau still holds a buy rating and a 12-month price target of $415 for the COIN stock.
At the time of writing, COIN was exchanging hands at $237.27, down 1% in a day.
Related: 'The Good, Bad and Ugly': Film Looks at CEO Brian Armstrong's Creation of Coinbase
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Dec 26, 2025, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
