Coinbase cut to Neutral at Piper on valuation, 'too much uncertainty'

Piper Sandler downgraded Coinbase Global ( NASDAQ: COIN ) stock to Neutral from Overweight on Wednesday on the basis of its huge rally year-to-date, as well as "too much uncertainty" partly stemming from the cryptocurrency exchange's legal hurdles. "The recent case brought forth by the SEC , as well as the continued lack of regulatory clarity in the US, has created too much uncertainty to prudently project revenues in future years," analyst Patrick Moley wrote in a note. COIN is up some 138% since the start of the year, thanks to rising crypto prices and renewed interest in among Wall Street giants. "However, rising crypto prices have not translated to increased trading volumes for COIN in recent quarters and the timing of a spot bitcoin ETF approval is anyone’s guess," Moley said, calling for the company to post the lowest quarterly trading volumes and monthly transacting users totals in over two years in Q2. All in, "while we continue to believe COIN is positioned to be a major player in the space when we do eventually get regulatory clarity in the US, we would like to see more progress on the regulatory front and a convincing turnaround in the underlying fundamentals of the business before becoming more positive on COIN." The Neutral rate agrees with the SA Quant system rating and the average sell-side analyst rating, both at Hold. Shares of Coinbase ( COIN ), meantime, slid 3% in premarket trading as bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) retreated 2.2% to $30.3K. More on Coinbase Global: Coinbase Global: An Anti-Cyclical Bet On The Crypto Market Coinbase: AN Opportunity To Take Advantage Of Volatility SEC has no authority to police crypto, Coinbase reportedly says