"CEO Brian Armstrong admitted that he was "a little bit distracted," because he'd been "tracking the prediction market about what Coinbase will say on their next earnings call." "And I just want to add here the words Bitcoin, Ethereum, Blockchain, Staking, and Web3 to make sure we get those in before the end of the call," Armstrong added. As Armstrong hinted, they were words that users on "mention markets" on Kalshi and Polymarket had wagered would be spoken on the call. So by speaking the words, Armstrong was allowing some of those bets to pay off."
"Bloomberg reports that while mention markets remain a relatively niche part of prediction markets, a total of $84,000 had been bet on whether certain words would be spoken on the cryptocurrency company's call. And while Armstrong may have helped some Kalshi and Polymarket users make a little money, he was also illustrating how easily these markets can be manipulated when executives become aware of them."
""you need your head examined if you think it's cute or clever or savvy that the CEO of the biggest company in this industry openly manipulated a market." "It's not fun working tirelessly for 8 years trying to educate institutional investors on the value of crypto investing as an investable asset class, and working to help them gain comfort in this industry, while one of the supposed 'leaders' openly mocks the industry with crap like this," Dorman said."
Brian Armstrong intentionally spoke specific crypto-related words during an earnings call after tracking prediction markets that had wagers on those words. Users on Kalshi and Polymarket placed roughly $84,000 on whether certain words would be spoken, and speaking those words allowed some bets to pay out. Critics decried the action as market manipulation and damaging to industry credibility, calling it mocking or diabolical. Coinbase is simultaneously expanding into prediction markets through its Everything Exchange and investments in Kalshi and Polymarket, creating potential conflicts and scrutiny over executive influence on market outcomes.
Read at TechCrunch
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