The enforcement action over wagers on sports event contracts followed Coinbase announcing the launch of prediction markets in all 50 US states. The Nevada Gaming Control Board announced that it had filed a civil enforcement action against Coinbase over wagers on sports event contracts. In Monday filings in the First Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada in and for Carson City, the Nevada Gaming Control Board sued Coinbase Financial Markets over allegations the company offered unlicensed wagers on sporting events. Authorities followed by requesting that the court grant a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction preventing Coinbase from “operating a derivatives exchange and prediction market” related to sporting bets. “The Board takes seriously its obligation to operate a thriving gaming industry and to protect Nevada citizens,” said Mike Dreitzer, chair of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, in a Tuesday statement. “The action taken yesterday reinforces this obligation.” Read more
Jeffrey Epstein may have made a $3.2 million investment in Coinbase in 2014 and sold some of it for $15 million in 2018, according to the latest batch of released emails. Newly released US Justice Department emails suggest Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender, gained exposure to early cryptocurrency venture investments through intermediaries, including a reported stake in Coinbase. Epstein may have invested $3.25 million into cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase back in 2014, according to files released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ). The emails suggest an entity linked to Epstein acquired 195,910 Series C shares for a total of $3.25 million when Coinbase was valued at $400 million. Read more
The lawsuit alleges Marc Andreessen sold $118.7 million in Coinbase shares through Andreessen Horowitz, while CEO Brian Armstrong offloaded about $291.8 million. A Delaware judge has allowed a shareholder lawsuit accusing several Coinbase directors of insider trading to proceed, despite an internal investigation that cleared the executives of wrongdoing. The case, filed by a Coinbase shareholder in 2023, alleges that company directors, including CEO Brian Armstrong and board member Marc Andreessen, used confidential information to sidestep more than $1 billion in losses by selling shares around the company’s public debut in 2021. According to the complaint, insiders sold more than $2.9 billion worth of stock, with Armstrong personally offloading about $291.8 million. On Friday, Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick rejected a request to dismiss the suit following a probe by a special litigation committee formed by Coinbase, Bloomberg Law reported. While the judge noted that the committee’s ...
Brian Armstrong made the media rounds before and after he announced Coinbase was pulling its support for a major US crypto bill, reportedly facing off with Jamie Dimon in Davos. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon reportedly confronted Brian Armstrong during a coffee chat at Davos last week, telling the Coinbase CEO to stop lying about banks trying to sabotage the digital asset market structure bill under consideration in the US Congress. According to a Thursday report from The Wall Street Journal, the confrontation between Dimon and Armstrong occurred at the World Economic Forum last week when the Coinbase CEO was having coffee with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Dimon reportedly interrupted Armstrong, saying the CEO was “full of s—,” referring to TV interviews in which the Coinbase CEO accused banks of interfering with the US market structure bill. Banking industry advocates have opposed allowing stablecoin rewards under the legislation. However, many in the crypto industry, including Armstrong, have push...
More than a month after announcing plans to move deeper into prediction markets, Coinbase said it would launch its offering for ”sports, politics, culture and more.” Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced the rollout of prediction markets offering in all 50 US states in partnership with Kalshi. In a Wednesday X post, Coinbase said it was offering trades on “any real-world outcomes across sports, politics, culture and more” following the launch of prediction markets. The announcement followed the exchange’s plans for onchain prediction markets in partnership with Kalshi in December. Event contracts on prediction market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket allow users to bet on the outcomes of a variety of topics, from sporting events to US politics, with the probability of each event assigned by user participation. The launch came about a week ahead of one of the biggest sporting events in the US, the National Football League’s Super Bowl championship game. Read more
Tether increases physical gold holdings to 130 metric tons while Coinbase promotes futures trading as Bitcoin lags and gold tops $5,300 per ounce. As gold prices surged to $5,300 this week, Tether and Coinbase — the two companies behind the world’s largest US dollar stablecoins — are taking different approaches to gaining exposure to the precious metal. Spot gold climbed above $5,300 per ounce on Wednesday, posting a record high of $5,311 at 3:30 am UTC, according to TradingView data. Amid the rally, Tether, issuer of USDt (USDT), the world’s largest stablecoin, doubled down on its gold accumulation, while Coinbase, a key partner in the USDC (USDC) stablecoin consortium, promoted access to gold futures on its platform. Read more
South Korean crypto exchange Coinone has reportedly begun selling major shareholder stakes, with Coinbase rumored to be eyeing a strategic entry. Coinone, one of a handful of regulated South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges, is reportedly up for sale, with both local financial institutions and foreign exchanges among the rumored bidders. The company has begun a process to sell the stake held by chairman Cha Myung-hoon, who controls 53.4% of the company, local news agency Seoul Economic Daily reported on Sunday. “We are discussing partnerships, including equity investments, with overseas exchanges and domestic financial institutions,” Coinone confirmed to the outlet, adding that no final decision has been made. Read more
Bitcoin has fallen nearly 30% since a major market crash in October, while traditional safe havens like gold and silver have soared. Around 70% of institutional investors believe Bitcoin is undervalued when priced between $85,000 to $95,000, as it continues to underperform against precious metals and the stock market, Coinbase has found. Coinbase said in its Charting Crypto Q1 2026 report that its survey of 75 institutional investors and 73 independent investors was taken between early December to early January, found 71% of institutions and 60% of independent investors “feel that [Bitcoin] is undervalued.” A quarter of institutional investors said Bitcoin (BTC) was fairly valued, with its price almost entirely staying within the $85,000 to $95,000 range during the survey period, while the remaining 4% said Bitcoin was overvalued. Bitcoin is currently priced at $87,600, down over 30% from its $126,080 all-time high in October, CoinGecko data shows. Crypto prices have mostly trended sideways and downward sinc...
The fourth-quarter crypto pullback hit ARK ETFs, with Coinbase emerging as the biggest drag on performance. Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has increased its exposure to crypto-linked equities, adding shares of Coinbase, Circle and Bullish as prices slid across the sector. According to ARK’s daily trade disclosures for Friday, the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) purchased 38,854 shares of Coinbase Global Inc., while the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF) added another 3,325 shares, acquiring a total of $9.4 million worth of the exchange shares. Coinbase shares closed down 2.77% on the day at $216.95. ARK added a combined 129,446 shares of Circle Internet Group across ARKK and ARKF, a position worth roughly $9.2 million. The firm also added 88,533 shares of Bullish across the same ETFs, investing about $3.2 million. Circle shares were little changed on the day, slipping 0.03% while Bullish shares declined 2% during the session, closing at $35.75. Read more