Coinbase continued its expansion beyond cryptocurrency trading on Wednesday by launching its prediction market product to users across all 50 states. The move will increase competition in the space and force other prediction market operators to follow suit.
Key Takeaways
- Coinbase has rolled out prediction markets nationwide through its partnership with Kalshi.
- Users can fund prediction trades with cash or USDC held in existing Coinbase accounts.
- The expansion comes amid rapid growth and increased scrutiny of prediction markets.
The rollout marked a significant step in the company's effort to diversify its platform as interest in event-based contracts has surged in recent months. The markets allow users to trade on outcomes across sports, politics, culture, and crypto, using contracts provided by the regulated prediction market platform Kalshi.
Coinbase users can access all Kalshi markets directly through the Coinbase platform, funding trades with cash or Circle's dollar-backed stablecoin, USDC.
The company said the integration allows customers to participate without transferring funds to external platforms. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong described prediction markets as a tool for aggregating information, saying outcomes are more reliable when participants have financial exposure.
Coinbase first disclosed plans to enter the prediction market sector in December, following a sharp rise in trading volumes across major platforms. Activity on Kalshi and its rival, Polymarket, accelerated throughout the fall, with weekly volumes reaching into the billions.
Investor interest soon followed, with Kalshi and Polymarket collectively raising more than $2.3 billion in late 2025, as well as taking their individual valuations to over $11 billion and $9 billion, respectively.
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Industry coalition pushes for standards
As prediction markets have expanded, questions have arisen about their transparency and integrity. The Coalition for Prediction Markets, a trade group formed by leading operators, purchased a full-page advertisement in The Washington Post on Wednesday, calling for clearer standards and stronger oversight.
Members of the coalition include Coinbase, Kalshi, and Robinhood.
The advertisement emphasized that insider trading is prohibited under Commodity Futures Trading Commission rules and called for a clear distinction between regulated U.S. platforms and offshore entities. The campaign followed heightened scrutiny after a series of high-profile trades on Polymarket raised concerns among lawmakers.
In early January, an anonymous trader earned more than $400,000 after placing roughly $30,000 on a contract predicting the removal of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro shortly before U.S. forces captured him. The timing raised the suspicion that the trader might have had access to material inside information regarding the military operation.
Although Polymarket is not a member of the coalition, the incident brought political attention to prediction markets. Federal legislators have considered the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026, which would prohibit government officials from engaging in transactions involving contracts concerning their official duties.
The proposal reflects growing concern that, while regulated in some cases, prediction markets could expose sensitive information or create conflicts of interest if left unchecked.
