Why Coinbase Could Be One of the Best Crypto Investments for Long-Term Holders

The cryptocurrency market is undergoing a fundamental shift. Institutional players are no longer treating blockchain technology as a speculative curiosity—they’re integrating it into their core operations. According to a 2025 Ripple report, banks are increasingly exploring digital asset custody solutions, driven by growing demand for stablecoins and the momentum around real-world asset tokenization. This structural change creates significant opportunities for platforms positioned at the intersection of institutions and digital assets. Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN) stands out as one of the best crypto to invest in right now, offering exposure to these long-term trends.

Institutional Adoption Accelerating Platform Growth

The numbers tell a compelling story. Coinbase’s customer crypto assets surged from $75 billion in Q4 2022 to over $500 billion by Q3 2025—a sevenfold increase in less than three years. More importantly, the composition of this growth has shifted decisively toward institutional clients. In Q3 2025, transaction revenue from institutional customers climbed 144% year-over-year, dramatically outpacing the 73% growth from retail consumers.

This disparity reveals a crucial insight: institutions are not just entering the crypto market—they’re accelerating their adoption. These are the players who demand sophisticated custody solutions, regulatory compliance, and integration with traditional finance infrastructure. Coinbase’s ability to capture this cohort positions it as a critical infrastructure provider in an evolving financial ecosystem.

Beyond Trading: The Expanding Financial Services Thesis

What separates Coinbase from a simple exchange is management’s vision of becoming a comprehensive financial-services provider. The platform already offers stock trading, signaling ambitions that extend well beyond cryptocurrency spot and derivatives markets. This diversification matters immensely for long-term investors.

Exchanges naturally face cyclical pressures—trading volume fluctuates with market sentiment. But as Coinbase broadens its service menu, it becomes less dependent on any single revenue stream. Higher customer assets on platform create a stable foundation for fee-generating services. With $500 billion+ in client assets, Coinbase has the scale to introduce banking-like services, lending products, and other financial offerings that command higher margins than commodity trading.

Valuation: Still Attractive Despite Leadership Position

Coinbase commands a $65 billion market capitalization, yet this valuation seems modest when compared to established financial-services giants. Traditional brokerages and investment firms with similar asset bases often trade at substantially higher multiples. The cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors remain young enough that growth premium hasn’t fully reflected in Coinbase’s valuation—creating a potential mispricing.

Historical patterns suggest that infrastructure providers capturing emerging markets early tend to deliver outsized returns. Past investment recommendations on transformative companies—think Netflix in 2004 or Nvidia in 2005—have generated returns of 470x and over 1,100x respectively for early believers. While past performance never guarantees future results, it illustrates how best crypto plays can evolve from emerging platforms to market leaders.

The Long-Term Investment Case

For investors seeking exposure to the best crypto to invest in over the next decade, the thesis is straightforward: Coinbase benefits from three powerful tailwinds. First, institutional adoption of blockchain and digital assets is accelerating, not decelerating. Second, regulatory clarity is gradually materializing, reducing uncertainty and encouraging broader adoption. Third, Coinbase’s expansion into complementary financial services reduces revenue volatility while expanding total addressable market.

The stock is not a bargain in absolute terms—it reflects genuine growth already recognized by the market. But relative to the scale of institutional capital beginning to migrate into digital assets, Coinbase’s current position offers compelling long-term potential. For those building a portfolio of the best crypto-related investments, it represents meaningful exposure to both the technology trend and its institutional adoption curve.