Why Josh Brown Bought Coinbase Shares Today

Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO Josh Brown added Coinbase Global Inc COIN to his portfolio this morning.

Brown said Thursday on CNBC's "Fast Money Halftime Report" he bought Coinbase as a trade rather than an investment. However, he noted his intentions could change.

Brown's Thesis: He expects a lot more money to flood into the crypto space over the next year or year and a half.

"One of my highest conviction ideas is that over the next 12 to 18 months probably another trillion or so comes into digital assets," said Brown.

See Also: Coinbase Is Seeing Massive Interest For Its Upcoming NFT Platform

The two biggest beneficiaries will be Coinbase and Gemini, he said, adding that Gemini is not a publicly-traded company.

Brown explained that his Coinbase position is a bet that crypto prices will go higher from current levels. Specifically, he mentioned Bitcoin BTC/USD, Ethereum ETH/USD and Solana SOL/USD.

"The higher these things go, the more adoption there will be," he said.

Brown noted there are 68 million verified users on the Coinbase platform: "Does anyone want to bet they don't get to 100 million?"

Coinbase has enough of a head start that its market cap is justified, Brown said.

Coinbase's market cap is about $53 billion, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

COIN Price Action: Coinbase has traded as high as $429.54 and as low as $208 over a 52-week period.

The stock was up 5.26% at $259.68 at time of publication.

Photo: courtesy of Coinbase.