Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong trolls the prediction markets

At the end of Thursday Dr Coinbase’s third quarter earnings callCEO Brian Armstrong admitted he was “a little confused” because he was “tracking the prediction market about what Coinbase will say in their next earnings call.”

“And I just want to add the words Bitcoin, Ethereum, Blockchain, Staking, and Web3 here so we can get to them before the call ends,” Armstrong added.

Why blurt them out without any apparent context? As Armstrong pointed out, those were the words that Kalshi and Polymarket’s “quoted market” users bet on the call. So by saying those words, Armstrong was allowing part of that bet to pay off.

Bloomberg reported Mentioned markets remain a relatively niche segment of the prediction market, with a total of $84,000 being bet on whether certain words will be said 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 are aware of them.

In fact, Jeff Dorman, CIO of digital asset investment firm Arca, Wrote in X That “if you think the CEO of the biggest company in the industry openly manipulating a market is cute or clever or smart you need to get your head examined.”

“It’s no fun working tirelessly for 8 years trying to educate institutional investors about the value of crypto investing as an investable asset class, and working to help them get comfortable in the industry, when one of the supposed ‘leaders’ openly mocks the industry for such nonsense,” Dorman said.

Polymarket, meanwhile, has been posted That Armstrong’s comment was “the work of the devil”.

Coinbase is moving to support the prediction market with its Everything exchange, Armstrong said on the earnings call, and the company has invested in Kalshi And Polymarket. A Coinbase spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company prohibits employees from participating in the prediction market or related activities around the company.

After Armstrong’s comments drew attention, He wrote in X“Haha that was funny – happened spontaneously when someone on our team dropped a link in the chat.”