Coinbase CEO Garners Praise, Pushback for Prediction Market Shoutouts in Earnings Call

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has helped some users of the predictive market get paid while at his firm Earnings for the 3rd quarter on Thursday he rattled off a handful of words to the delight of users who bet him he used them.

“I was a little distracted because I was watching the market for predictions about what Coinbase was going to say on its next earnings call,” he said. “I just want to add, here are the words”bitcoin,’ ‘Ethereum,’ ‘blockchain’, ‘staking’ and ‘Web3’ to make sure we get them before the end of the call.”

Armstrong tracked the mentions market, a type of market that asks users what words will be spoken during a specific event. Such markets were available on the Kalshi and Polymarket prediction markets, asking users to provide their estimate of what Coinbase would say on its profit.

Armstrong’s last-minute inclusion sent the odds on words like “Web3” and “Ethereum” almost straight up to 100%, ultimately paying off predictors who expected a Coinbase representative to say them during the quarterly limit call.

The event was reportedly derived from a member sharing a link to one of the markets in a chat with a Coinbase executive, which he later posted on X. The stunt, which Armstrong called “hilarious,” drew mixed reviews from industry observers.

While some called for a move “amazing” or referred to the Coinbase co-founder as “chad,” others pointed to act as a failure of prediction markets– and claimed it was a “A blatant example of insider trading.”

“I’m sick of lashing out at Clownbase, but if you think it’s cute, smart, or savvy that the CEO of the biggest company in the industry has openly manipulated the market, you need to get your head examined.” Posted by Arca CIO Jeff Dorman on X.

A representative for Coinbase did not immediately respond to a request for comment from unscramble, but he said Bloomberg that Armstrong’s comments were made “in a light-hearted way, referring to an online earnings discussion,” and added that the company has internal policies that restrict its employees from participating in prediction markets.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin came to Armstrong’s defense in a similar fashion on X, telling his followers that he thinks Armstrong thinks he’s having fun, and the ETH icon “wants to be part of a fun-loving company.”

Armstrong’s last-second mentions did not lead to any major financial gains, as the Polymarket and Kalshi markets had low liquidity and total volumes of $4,000 and $80,000, respectively.

For example, “Web3” and “staking,” both words he encoded at the last minute, managed less than $450 in combined volume on Polymarket.

“Lmfao Brian you are a legend but next time you need to balance it out and make ‘no bros’ solid” posted by user Kalshi after the stunt.

Both Polymarket and Kalshi have recently benefited from the flurry of activity and hype around prediction markets. Companies have completed another raise in the last month they value their businesses in the billions.

Coinbase beat Q3 profit estimate on increased income. Shares of COIN traded up 6.37% on Friday, hitting $349.44.