- Coinbase CEO swayed prediction markets during an earnings call.
- Bettors on Kalshi and Polymarket celebrated the move.
- Armstrong has found himself closer to the Trump administration than ever.
At the conclusion of Coinbase’s third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, Brian Armstrong announced to executives, analysts, investors, and members of the media who were present that he was distracted.
The CEO of the $90 billion crypto exchange said he was instead watching the odds on a betting site.
“I was a little distracted because I was tracking the prediction market about what Coinbase will say on their next earnings call,” Armstrong said.
Kalshi and Polymarket are the two largest prediction markets.
They let users bet money on the outcomes of any number of events, from sports to who will be the next president, to what a CEO will say during an earnings call.
There was a market open on each prediction market that took bets on whether Armstrong would or would not say specific words on Thursday’s earnings call.
‘This was fun’
After a short pause, the 42-year-old crypto CEO then proceeded to rattle off a slew of seemingly random crypto jargon.
“I just want to add here the words Bitcoin, Ethereum, blockchain, staking and web3 to make sure we get those in before the end of the call,” he said.
Meanwhile, bettors on Kalshi and Polymarket erupted in jubilation.
“Brian, you’re a legend,” said one Kalshi user named Tyrael.
At the end of the Coinbase earnings call today, Brian Armstrong pulled up the mention market and rattled off all the words that weren't said yet
— Tyrael (@0xTyrael) October 30, 2025
What a wild time to be alive pic.twitter.com/4E5eldFkE4
“Thank you for the gift at the end of the call,” another Kalshi user said.
“Brian said everything lol,” wrote a Polymarket user.
To be sure, these two markets were relatively small. Kalshi’s market saw just over $80,000 in volume, while Polymarket’s saw less than $4,000.
It’s unclear if Armstrong or other Coinbase employees had placed bets in either market.
Armstrong addressed the matter on Friday morning, calling the stunt “fun.”
“This was fun,” he said. “Happened spontaneously when someone on our team dropped a link in the chat.”
A Coinbase spokesperson told DL News that Armstrong’s comments were made “in a lighthearted, offhand way referencing online discussion around the earnings call.”
They added that the company has internal controls that prohibit employees from contributing to prediction markets related to the company.
$1.9 billion
Armstrong’s swagger on Thursday was buttressed by the crypto exchange’s excellent performance over the last quarter.
Coinbase reported a net revenue of $1.9 billion, a 55% increase since this time last year.
Demand for USDC, the second-largest stablecoin on the market issued by Circle, across Coinbase products also hit an all-time high of $15 billion. Coinbase holds a direct equity stake in Circle and also has a revenue-sharing agreement with Circle for the stablecoin.
Coinbase’s resurgence comes amid growing acceptance of the digital asset industry in the US under President Donald Trump.
Since Trump took office in January, he’s appointed several pro-industry regulators to key agencies and signed into law landmark stablecoin legislation.
Armstrong has also found himself closer than ever to the Trump administration. Coinbase was one of several crypto firms that donated millions to the president’s inauguration in January, according to Politico.
In March, he joined other heads of industry at the White House for a crypto summit with the president and White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks.
Coinbase is also donating funds to pay for the construction of Trump’s new $300 million White House Ballroom, according to The New York Times.
Liam Kelly is DL News’ Berlin-based DeFi correspondent. Have a tip? Get in touch at liam@dlnews.com.
