Barclays Joins Wall Street Analysts Calling XRP Ruling Positive for Coinbase
Wall Street banks including J.P. Morgan also saw the ruling as a positive outcome for the crypto exchange.
Jul 17, 2023 at 6:29 p.m. UTC
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The U.S. Southern District Court’s ruling in partial favor of payments network Ripple is “incrementally positive” for crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), British banking giant Barclays said in a research report on Monday.
“We view the ruling as incrementally positive for Coinbase, given the interpretation that in some cases a token may not be a security,” the bank's analysts wrote, keeping COIN’s rating at underweight with a $70 price target. "This may also provide incremental clarity for future token issuances.”
Barclays lowered rating for Coinbase stock on July 13 to underweight from equal weight as it saw few positive drivers for the crypto exchange’s share price in the near term.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently sued Coinbase on allegations of violating federal securities law, following a similar suit against peer Binance.
Barclays’ positive call on Coinbase echoes similar take from Wall Street firms J.P. Morgan and Needham.
J.P. Morgan, which has a neutral rating for COIN, said in a note on Friday that “Coinbase is in the best position to benefit from the improved confidence and regulatory clarity given Coinbase’s market leading position and respected reputation in the industry."
Similarly, Needham analyst John Todaro, who has a buy rating and price target of $120, wrote that the outcome should moderately de-risk regulatory pressure on Coinbase’s stock.
A U.S. judge on Thursday ruled that Ripple’s XRP token should not be considered a security if sold on an exchange or through programmatic sales. The shares are up nearly 30% since the decision was made public on July 13.
However, not all analysts had same positive take on Coinbase's stock after the XRP ruling. Investment bank Berenberg said last week that the rally in the shares of the crypto exchange was overdone as some investors may have partially misinterpreted the ruling.
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Helene is a New York-based reporter covering Wall Street, the rise of the spot bitcoin ETFs and crypto exchanges. She is also the co-host of CoinDesk's Markets Daily show. Helene is a graduate of New York University's business and economic reporting program and has appeared on CBS News, YahooFinance and Nasdaq TradeTalks. She holds BTC and ETH.