Crypto
One Wall Street Analyst Says Bullish Wins Either Way the CLARITY Vote Goes
Tuesday's CLARITY vote has Wall Street gaming out scenarios, and one analyst just made the boldest call of the bunch: Bullish wins either way. Compass Point analyst Ed Engel upgraded the crypto exchange operator from Neutral to Buy on Monday and lifted his price target from $30 to $51, implying 45 percent upside from Friday's $35.12 close. Shares responded with a 7.6 percent climb to $37.78 on Monday. The stock remains down 1.5 percent this year, which is exactly why Engel sees the opening.
Engel's thesis is a genuine win win. If the CLARITY Act passes, clearer regulation around crypto and tokenization drives the stock higher on fundamentals. If the bill fails, Engel expects the Securities and Exchange Commission to move quickly with a regulatory shortcut, letting American investors trade tokenized stocks legally on public blockchains. Either path expands the market Bullish serves. The analyst also points to the planned 2027 launch of traditional tokenized equities as a durable growth driver, making Bullish a key vehicle for investors seeking exposure to real world asset tokenization.
The deeper play is the $4.2 billion Equiniti acquisition Bullish announced in early May. Equiniti is a major regulated stock transfer agent handling record keeping for roughly 3,000 corporate clients. Paired with Bullish's blockchain exchange infrastructure, the deal could create more than $300 million in cost savings and revenue after its expected close in the first quarter of fiscal 2027. Engel's read: if the SEC's shortcut lets issuers opt out of third party tokenization, issuers could bar synthetic stock tokens, which track stock prices while shareholder rights remain with the issuing company, from apps like Robinhood and Coinbase. That would open the door for Bullish to use Equiniti's roster to secure exclusive rights to tokenize blue chip equities.
Here is the angle the market is missing. Everyone is treating the CLARITY vote as a binary event for crypto prices. Engel is treating it as a binary event where both outcomes expand tokenization, just through different doors: statute or SEC shortcut. Trump's agreement to ethics restrictions on the bill has even raised the odds of a surprise passage, in Engel's view, despite his base case that the bill fails. When your bear case and your bull case both point up, the upgrade writes itself.
For investors, Bullish is becoming the purest public market bet on tokenized equities, the bridge between Wall Street's plumbing and crypto's rails. For crypto natives, the takeaway is bigger: tokenized stocks are advancing through markets and dealmaking even while Congress debates. The tokenization of everything keeps moving, whatever Tuesday brings. Watch how the exchanges position themselves this week.
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