Everyone’s chasing the next big platform.

Elon wants to build an “Everything App” on X. Mark tried and failed. PayPal stalled.

Meanwhile, Coinbase is shipping it. Quietly. Under everyone’s nose.

It’s called the Base App.

Some call it “crypto’s WeChat.”

Fortune says it “succeeds where earlier Web3 apps have failed.” Yahoo calls it a bridge to mainstream adoption.

And Wall Street? They’re hiking price targets like it’s 1999.

Let’s break it down.

JPMorgan Goes Full Crypto

For years, Coinbase made most of its money from one thing: trading. That works great when crypto’s pumping. Not so great when it’s crashing.

So Coinbase needed a new engine—something that makes money whether markets are up, down, or sideways.

The answer? USDC.

Back in 2018, Coinbase partnered with Circle, the company behind USDC. Since then:

• They earn yield on billions of USDC held by users
• They split profits on every new USDC issued
• They own a big chunk of Circle (~$1.6 billion worth)

In just one quarter (Q1 2025), Coinbase made over $300 million from this setup—at a 66% profit margin.

JPMorgan looked at the numbers and said, “This alone could be worth $55–$60 billion.”

So JPMorgan wanted in.

Just yesterday, they made it official—they’re partnering with Coinbase “to make buying crypto easier than ever.”

Starting in late 2025:

• Chase cardholders will redeem reward points for USDC
• Buy crypto directly through Coinbase
• Link bank accounts straight into the ecosystem

Coinbase becomes the on-ramp to the crypto economy—powered by America’s biggest bank.

And every transaction? Coinbase takes a cut.

Now Add the Base App

Base App combines:

• A self-custody crypto wallet
• A social network (posts = tokens = earnings)
• USDC payments with tap-to-pay + cashback
• An app store for Web3 tools, prediction markets, games, and AI agents

Here’s why this matters…

Everything on the Base App runs on Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer-2 network. And Coinbase controls the sequencer—the thing that processes every transaction.

So when users post, tip, swap, or pay… Coinbase collects a small fee.

Think of it like a tollbooth on a highway they built.

And it’s already working. Coinbase is making $25–30 million per month in sequencer fees. That’s $360 million a year, and growing.

More users → more transactions → more fees.

But with Base App, it gets even more interesting.

Coinbase is betting the next social media boom won’t come from Big Tech. It’ll come from creators who want to get paid directly.

No ads. No brand deals. Just tokenized posts that earn tips and revenue instantly.

A crypto-native TikTok meets OnlyFans.

It’s a long shot. But if even 1% of creators adopt it, the upside is massive—and Coinbase owns the rails.

Wall Street’s Bullish

Following this flurry of announcements, analysts upgraded their Coinbase targets:

• Citi: $270 → $505
• Jefferies: $260 → $405
• Rosenblatt: $300 → $470
• JPMorgan: $400 → $450

They’re no longer valuing Coinbase as a trading exchange. They’re seeing a pivot to regulated crypto infrastructure.

Right now, Coinbase trades at around 70x earnings. If you believe Coinbase is still just a trading platform, these valuations seem overheated and unsustainable.

But if they pull this off—if JPMorgan plugs in, if USDC goes mainstream, if Base App gains traction, and if creators, merchants, and users show up...

Then Coinbase doesn’t just look like a crypto exchange anymore.

It looks like the operating system for the next layer of the internet.

And COIN becomes Wall Street’s Web3 darling.