The market has been volatile around any cryptocurrency stock, and for one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges around, Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), the story is no different. In fact, a new product launch from Coinbase was met with furious yawns as investors pulled out, sending shares down over 3% in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
Coinbase rolled out the Base blockchain system, following just over four full months of testing. The network was subsequently opened up to developers after the tests, and now, it’s gone fully live. The new blockchain—which focuses on the Ethereum (ETH-USD) blockchain, should deliver a range of features that users want. Coinbase notes that users will get access to better transaction speeds on Base, as well as solid and consistent security and better scalability. It also doesn’t have a network token, which will help prove its legitimacy and make it that much more attractive against the wide array of other level-2 networks who want to land business.
Customers are certainly buying in; there’s already $142 million on this network, notes a Decrypt report. That’s up 52% from the week ahead of the launch, and demonstrates that interest is indeed brisk. And with Coinbase also considering a major bond buyback—as much as $150 million worth—that suggests that Coinbase also has the cash on hand to keep itself viable for some time to come.
Analysts, however, are a bit more skeptical. With six Buy ratings, eight Hold and eight Sell, Coinbase stock currently stands as a Hold by analyst consensus. Further, with an average price target of $80.53, Coinbase stock offers investors a 5.46% downside risk as well.
