Coinbase Global Inc. has announced its entry into the prediction market and stock trading sectors.
The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States said on Wednesday that it is beginning to roll out these two services and will open them to all eligible users in the country within the next few weeks.
“Coinbase is now the best place to trade all assets, not just cryptocurrencies,” CEO Brian Armstrong said at the company’s product showcase.
This move is part of Coinbase’s strategy to become an “all-in-one app”, aiming to offer traders a wide range of assets and market choices and keep pace with competitors that are also diversifying. The company stated in its presentation that users will be able to purchase stocks using the USDC stablecoin.
Deutsche Bank research analysts wrote in a report: “This strategy should significantly broaden the company’s target market (including retail and institutional markets), diversify its product/service range, and help alleviate potential price pressure from future retail cryptocurrency trading.” They said that the company’s growth partly depends on new services such as predictive markets.
Coinbase said it is offering prediction markets through Kalshi Inc.
Prediction markets, which allow people to bet on the outcomes of events such as sports games and elections, have grown rapidly in the past year.
Robinhood Markets Inc. launched Kalshi’s prediction market product earlier this year. Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange co-founded by billionaire twin brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, has been approved to launch prediction markets. Another exchange, Crypto.com, has also collaborated with companies such as Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. to assist them in launching such products.
Coinbase also announced several products for institutional clients, including one that allows companies to launch their own branded stablecoins backed by a mix of USDC and other dollar-backed stablecoins.
The company said that another product, “Coinbase Tokenize”, will allow institutions to tokenize their own stocks and other assets, adding that this will pave the way for the future listing of tokenized stocks on Coinbase.
In a blog post, Coinbase stated: “We believe that everything will be tokenized over time, and bringing stocks to Coinbase is an important milestone in the tokenization of stocks. With tokenized stocks, you can trade anytime, anywhere, use the stocks you hold on the chain, and even make instant payments.”
The company’s share price has dropped by approximately 1.66% this year, while the entire cryptocurrency market has been in a selling-off state since October.
