Brian Armstrong, CEO of crypto exchange Coinbase, made an interesting statement during a conference call, listing a number of keywords. In this way, he wanted to show the unreliability of prediction services.
Brian Armstrong, CEO of crypto exchange Coinbase, made an interesting statement during a conference call, listing a number of keywords. In this way, he wanted to show the unreliability of prediction services.
«I was a little distracted because I was following the markets for what Coinbase would say on the next earnings call, and I just want to add the words ‘Bitcoin,’ ‘Ethereum,’ ‘blockchain,’ ‘stakes,’ and ‘Web3’ here to make sure we have them by the end of the call», he said. Futurism writes about this.
It may seem like a meaningless set of words, but Armstrong thwarted attempts to make money by betting on what words he would use during his speech.
Prediction markets, including Polymarket, have long allowed crypto enthusiasts to place bets on virtually anything, from when the US will confirm the existence of aliens to whether President Donald Trump will say the word «tampon.»
But Armstrong’s stunt shows that odds can be easily manipulated by insiders, highlighting how risky gambling on future events can be, especially when using unregulated assets.
There are currently no federal laws in the US that explicitly prohibit cryptocurrency gambling, so it is up to the states to set regulations. Given Trump’s willingness to use his position as a way to sell dubious memecoins and make billions in cryptocurrency, this situation is unlikely to change anytime soon.
Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have indeed opened bets on what Coinbase management will say during its next earnings call.
The day before, the percentage of bets on the use of the words «Bitcoin», «Ethereum», «blockchain», «betting» and «Web3» at the Coinbase conference soared to almost 100% on Kalshi, which completely coincides with Armstrong’s remarks at the end of the speech. According to TradingView, bets were placed on Kalshi and Polymarket in the amount of $80,242 and $3,912.
Social media users liked Armstrong’s prank.
«Keep breaking the fourth wall, Brian Armstrong,» one user wrote on X (Twitter).
«This prediction market is going to end badly. It’s too easy to manipulate, as Brian just demonstrated,» another user noted.
The Coinbase CEO later said that it was fun and happened spontaneously when someone on the team dropped a link to these bets in an internal chat.
At the end of October, former CEO of Reface, and now co-founder and COO of the Limitless platform, Roman Mogilny, announced that his new company had raised a seed round of $10 million in investment.
Limitless creates an event betting platform that allows users to bet against each other, which distinguishes it from traditional bookmakers. It offers financial predictions, such as on the exchange rates of popular cryptocurrencies or egg prices, as well as contracts for sporting and political events.
