Wall Street Welcomes Coinbase as It Enters the S&P 500

Coinbase is heading to the S&P 500, a landmark step that reflects both the company's financial evolution and Wall Street’s growing comfort with the crypto sector.

The exchange will replace Discover Financial Services on the index, marking a new level of legitimacy for digital asset firms.

The news drove COIN shares up 8% in after-hours trading, with the stock hovering around $226—still well off its 2021 high but showing strong year-to-date momentum. The inclusion comes after Coinbase posted a profitable first quarter with $527 million in adjusted net income and $2 billion in revenue.

Coinbase has faced an uneven path since going public in 2021, with its early valuation of $85 billion falling as the crypto market cooled. However, a string of profitable quarters and regulatory tailwinds under the Trump administration have revived investor interest.

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The exchange recently made headlines with a $2.9 billion deal to acquire Deribit, a crypto derivatives platform. The move signals Coinbase’s intent to dominate not just spot trading, where it already leads in the U.S., but also derivatives—by far the largest slice of the global crypto market.

While competitors like Kraken and Gemini consider going public, and financial incumbents like Visa and PayPal expand crypto offerings, Coinbase’s S&P 500 inclusion places it in a class of its own. MicroStrategy, despite its large Bitcoin holdings, remains outside the index due to its smaller market cap.

As legacy finance and crypto converge, Coinbase’s entry into the S&P 500 cements its role as a bridge between two financial worlds once seen as irreconcilable.

Alexander Stefanov