Wall Street bank Citigroup is dialing back expectations for Coinbase (COIN) amid a risk-off mood gripping markets.

In a Friday note to clients, the bank’s analysts lowered their price target on the crypto exchange to $400 from $505, citing weaker trading volumes, softer institutional activity and ongoing uncertainty around the timing of U.S. crypto legislation.

The new $400 price target still represents more than a doubling in price from COIN’s close last night of $146. The same analyst team lifted its price target on COIN to $505 in July 2025 as the stock was hitting a record high near $450.

Shares are up 6% in pre-market action on Friday as crypto markets recover a bit from Thursday’s crash that saw bitcoin plunge all the way to $60,000.

Despite the near-term reset, the firm reiterated its buy/high risk rating, calling Coinbase the category leader and a prime beneficiary of eventual crypto reform. Progress on CLARITY, Citi said, remains the key catalyst for reviving the stock’s momentum.

The bank now expects Senate negotiations over the market structure bill to stretch beyond 2026, even as groundwork continues.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said his firm had pulled support for a sweeping digital assets bill after finding provisions that could have harmed consumers and stifled competition.

The bill has repeatedly lost steam as crypto and banking lobbyists clash over stablecoin yield, while lawmakers from both parties remain deadlocked on several other provisions.

Marking current crypto prices to market, analysts led by Peter Christiansen cut their near-term forecasts, trimming Coinbase fourth-quarter 2025 net revenue by roughly 10% to $1.69 billion, about 4% below consensus.

After factoring in a $2.3 billion mark-to-market decline on crypto holdings and Coinbase’s equity stake in Circle (CRCL), the analysts now forecast a fourth-quarter GAAP EPS loss of $2.64.

Coinbase will release fourth quarter and full year 2025 financial results after the close on February 12.

Read more: Citi says CLARITY Act momentum builds, but DeFi fight could stall crypto bill

ARK Invest, the asset manager led by Cathie Wood, has shifted its trading stance on crypto equities, moving away from Coinbase stock as the shares extended declines and turning toward Bullish, the NYSE-listed digital asset platform. In a Thursday filing observed by researchers, ARK sold 119,236 shares of Coinbase stock (EXCHANGE: COIN) for roughly $17.4 million, a move that comes on the heels of a smaller purchase the prior day. The stock has struggled this year, trading down about a third and stepping near multi-month lows as macro and crypto headwinds weigh on the sector. Despite the sale, ARK still holds a sizable stake in COIN across its flagship funds, underscoring the fund’s longer-term, high-conviction strategy in crypto-exposed equities.

Key takeaways

• ARK sold 119,236 Coinbase shares (EXCHANGE: COIN) for around $17.4 million, marking its first Coinbase exit in 2026 and its first sale since August 2025.
• The trade follows a modest, earlier purchase of 3,510 COIN shares for about $630,000, signaling a timing shift rather than a simple divestment.
• Coinbase stock has fallen roughly 37% year-to-date, illustrating broader weakness in crypto equities amid a retracement in digital-asset prices and regulatory uncertainty.
• ARK rotated the capital into Bullish (EXCHANGE: BLSH), taking 716,030 shares for about $17.8 million, a bet on an institution-focused platform listed on the NYSE in August 2025.
• Bullish has experienced a substantial drawdown since its listing, with shares trading around the $25 level after a more-than-60% drop from IPO highs; the move positions ARK as a notable, if opportunistic, early-stage investor in the platform.
• Despite the shift, ARK’s exposure to Coinbase remains substantial, with COIN representing a notable portion of its holdings across ARK’s flagship ETFs.

Tickers mentioned: $COIN, $BLSH, $ARKK, $ARKW, $ARKF, $BTC

Sentiment: Neutral

Price impact: Negative. The Coinbase sale and general crypto equities weakness contributed to a lower price environment for COIN and related holdings.

Trading idea (Not Financial Advice): Hold. ARK’s strategic reallocation hints at concentration risk management and sector rotation rather than a simple asset dump or outright pivot away from crypto exposure.

Market context: The latest moves come as crypto markets trade in a risk-off regime, with institution-focused platforms drawing attention as potential hedges or air-cover for traditional equities amid ongoing macro and regulatory considerations.

Why it matters

The decision by ARK Invest to trim Coinbase shares (EXCHANGE: COIN) while allocating capital to Bullish (EXCHANGE: BLSH) highlights a broader pattern among active managers navigating crypto equities in 2026. Coinbase, once a central pillar of public-market crypto participation, has weathered sharp swings as investors recalibrate exposure to digital-asset ecosystems in the face of evolving regulatory scrutiny and market volatility. ARK’s action underscores the importance of liquidity and portfolio rebalancing in a sector characterized by outsized moves and opaque macro-linked catalysts.

On the one hand, the Coinbase sale signals a realignment of risk as ARK seeks to diversify away from a single stock that has borne the brunt of multiple dislocations in the crypto space. On the other hand, the allocation to Bullish reveals an appetite for a different kind of exposure — one that concentrates on an exchange-traded vehicle that aggregates institution-grade access to digital assets and related services. Bullish, having listed on the NYSE in August 2025, has seen a challenging stretch, with shares down considerably since inception, yet it remains part of a broader ecosystem believed to be critical to mainstream institutional adoption of crypto infrastructure.

ARK’s ongoing stake in Coinbase across its three funds remains meaningful. The holdings, spread across ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), and ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), account for roughly 3.7%, 3.4%, and 4.95% of each fund’s COIN allocation, respectively. This positioning reflects a long-tail belief in Coinbase’s role within the crypto-financial services landscape, even as the stock has shifted in its relative weight. The juxtaposition of a continued COIN stake against a fresh BLSH bet reveals a nuanced strategy: maintain exposure to a marquee crypto access point while seeking to participate in a broader trend toward institutional-grade platforms and crypto-native financial infrastructure.

The backdrop to these moves includes bitcoin’s recent price dynamics and the broader risk-off tone that has pressured crypto equities. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) experienced volatility in the week, testing levels around the lower end of the prior range before rebounding into a more cautious stance among investors. The price action around BTC and other digital assets remains a critical driver for the equity valuations of publicly traded crypto-exposed firms, including Coinbase and Bullish, making ARK’s rebalancing a microcosm of how active funds adapt to shifting liquidity and sentiment in the cryptoverse.

In territory that remains volatile and highly followable, ARK’s positioning illustrates a continuity of its core thesis: basic, scalable exposure to transformative technologies and the financial infrastructure that supports them, even in the face of near-term price retrenchment. Coinbase, as one of the clearest on-ramps to crypto markets, continues to matter for both retail and institutional participants, while Bullish represents a distinct, institution-focused angle on the crypto economy. The divergence in performance between COIN and BLSH mirrors a broader market pattern where individual stock trajectories can diverge from sectoral or platform-level narratives, presenting both risk and potential opportunity for nimble investors.

What to watch next

• ARK’s next 13F filings and any subsequent COIN or BLSH trades, which will indicate whether the shift is ongoing or a one-off adjustment.
• COIN’s price action in the weeks ahead, particularly in response to crypto market volatility, regulatory updates, or earnings commentary from Coinbase management.
• Performance and liquidity changes in Bullish (BLSH) as it continues to navigate institutional demand for crypto-enabled platforms.
• Any further commentary from Ark Invest on its longer-term crypto thesis and how the COIN and BLSH positions fit into a broader risk framework.

Sources & verification

• ARK trade filing showing the sale of 119,236 COIN shares for roughly $17.4 million and the prior day’s smaller purchase.
• Nasdaq data confirming Coinbase’s year-to-date decline (about 37%).
• NYSE data confirming Bullish’s listing on the NYSE and its subsequent price trajectory, including the ~60% drop from IPO levels.
• ARK’s disclosed holdings of COIN across its funds: ARKK, ARKW, and ARKF, with COIN representing 3.7%, 3.4%, and 4.95% of each fund, respectively.
• Historical context on Coinbase’s direct listing and its long-term share-price performance since April 2021.

ARK reverses course: Coinbase stake discarded as Bullish bet grows

ARK Invest’s latest activity sheds light on an ongoing approach that blends conviction with tactical rotation. The firm’s exit from a portion of its Coinbase stake (EXCHANGE: COIN) — 119,236 shares valued at roughly $17.4 million — occurred on Thursday as the stock retraced from a string of gains and moved toward support levels near multi-month lows. This action followed a modest purchase on Tuesday, when ARK added 3,510 COIN shares for about $630,000, a signal that the firm remains comfortable with exposure to Coinbase but is recalibrating its risk posture amid a cooler macro and a softer price environment for crypto equities.

Even as ARK trims its Coinbase exposure, it did not abandon crypto-market participation altogether. The fund allocated capital to Bullish (EXCHANGE: BLSH), acquiring 716,030 shares for approximately $17.8 million. Bullish, which listed on the NYSE in August 2025, provides an institutional-grade gateway to crypto markets and related services — a structure ARK evidently views as a complementary exposure to COIN’s direct stock dynamic. Bullish’s post-listing performance has been uneven, with shares down more than 60% from the IPO highs, yet the asset’s placement in ARK’s portfolio underscores a strategic tilt toward infrastructure-driven plays rather than pure-asset bets.

Across Coinbase (COIN) and Bullish (BLSH), ARK’s activity this year reflects a delicate balancing act. COIN remains a meaningful component of ARK’s strategy, particularly within the ARKK, ARKW, and ARKF funds, where it represents a combined stake that surpasses several other holdings. Since Coinbase’s direct listing in April 2021, the stock has trended lower from its initial surge, illustrating the long arc of a company that once symbolized the crypto market’s public-market gateway. The overall trajectory for COIN this year has mirrored the broader sector’s volatility, influenced by interest-rate expectations, regulatory debates, and evolving investor appetite for crypto exposure through both direct equity and exchange-traded vehicles.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and other digital assets have remained pivotal in shaping the context for such trades. The price action of BTC and the ensuing risk sentiment influence how institutions value crypto-centric equities, including Coinbase and platforms like Bullish. In a market where liquidity and sentiment can flip quickly, ARK’s decision to simultaneously book a sale and pursue a fresh stake in an institutional gateway signals a nuanced stance: preserve exposure to a core asset while seeking to diversify through a platform with potential for broader institutional adoption. The net effect is a portfolio that can weather near-term volatility while maintaining a longer horizon exposure to the crypto economy’s infrastructure and liquidity channels.

For investors keeping a close eye on ARK’s moves, the underlying takeaway is not a simple binary bet on one asset but a calculated reallocation that emphasizes liquidity, diversification, and the belief that crypto infrastructure remains a meaningful layer in the broader financial system. The balance ARK seeks — continuing exposure to Coinbase while adding Bullish — indicates a perspective that the crypto economy will require both direct access points and regulated, institution-facing platforms as the market matures. As the sector continues to grapple with regulatory signals and macro headwinds, ARK’s actions offer a lens into how active managers navigate a landscape where volatility often coexists with potential for structural shifts in crypto finance.

Bitcoin Core developer Gloria Zhao has stepped down as a maintainer and revoked her Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signing key, ending about six years as one of the project’s gatekeepers. 

On Thursday, Zhao submitted her last pull request to the Bitcoin GitHub repository, removing her key from the trusted keys and withdrawing herself as one of the few maintainers able to update Bitcoin’s software.

Becoming the first known female maintainer in 2022, she focused on mempool policy and transaction relay: the rules and peer‑to‑peer logic that decide which transactions get into nodes’ waiting rooms and how quickly they propagate across the network. 

She helped design and implement package relay (BIP 331) and TRUC (Topologically Restricted Until Confirmation, BIP 431), along with upgrades to replace‑by‑fee (RBF) and broader P2P behavior, making fee bumping more reliable and reducing censorship.

Zhao’s work was funded through Brink, where she became the organization’s first fellow in 2021, with her fellowship backed by the Human Rights Foundation’s Bitcoin Development Fund and Jack Dorsey’s Spiral (formerly Square Crypto), placing her among a small cohort of publicly supported, full‑time open‑source Bitcoin protocol engineers.

Beyond her technical contributions, Zhao mentored new contributors and co‑ran the Bitcoin Core PR Review Club, helping junior developers learn how to review complex changes and navigate Core’s conservative review culture. 

Related: Bitcoin Core v30 bug risks fund loss during legacy wallet upgrades

Split over OP_RETURN and Knots

Her resignation comes after more than a year of public disputes between Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Knots, and the removal of OP_RETURN limits, a fight over whether Bitcoin’s default node software should make it harder to use block space for non‑monetary data.

In 2025, Zhao deleted her X account amid personal attacks during the OP_RETURN war, after a livestream in which a core developer questioned her credentials.

While some Bitcoin Core critics celebrated Zhao’s departure, others took a more somber tone.

“They bullied her and made her life as miserable as possible until she rage quit, and quite frankly, I think what they did to her was tragic,” said pseudonymous Bitcoiner Pledditor.

Pledditor added that it set a “terrible precedent” and called it, “sad and pathetic.

“Congratulations you finally did it. You bullied one of Bitcoin Core’s most prolific and consistently excellent maintainers until she gave up,” said Chris Seedor, co-founder and CEO at Bitcoin wallet backup company Seedor.

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