--- title: "Coinbase CEO Pulls Up Predictions Market During Earnings Call and Rattles Off Words People Were Betting He’d Say" description: "At the end of Coinbase's earnings call, CEO Brian Armstrong pulled one over those using prediction markets to bet on what he would say." date: "2025-10-31" modified: "2025-10-31" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/coinbase-ceo-prediction-markets-earnings-call-words" categories: - "Bitcoin" - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Finance" - "Future Society" --- # Coinbase CEO Pulls Up Predictions Market During Earnings Call and Rattles Off Words People Were Betting He’d Say ![At the end of Coinbase's earnings call, CEO Brian Armstrong pulled one over those using prediction markets to bet on what he would say.]() *Steven Ferdman/Getty Images* At the end of crypto exchange Coinbase's earnings call this week, CEO Brian Armstrong made a strange proclamation. "I was a little distracted because I was tracking the prediction market about what Coinbase will say on their next earnings call and I just wanna add here the words, Bitcoin, Ethereum, blockchain, staking, and Web 3, to make sure we get those in before the end of the call," he [said](). While that may sound like a meaningless string of words to the uninitiated, Armstrong was upending attempts to make a buck by predicting what words he would use. Prediction markets, most notably Polymarket, have long allowed crypto enthusiasts to bet on virtually anything from when the United States will [confirm that aliens exist]() to [whether president Donald Trump will say the word "tampon]()." But, as Armstrong concisely demonstrated, the odds can easily be manipulated by insiders, highlighting how fraught gambling on future events, particularly with the use of unregulated assets, can be. There are currently [no federal laws]() explicitly forbidding crypto gambling, leaving it up to states to set rules. Given Trump's willingness to use his office as a way to [sell dubious meme coins]() and [make billions off crypto](), that situation is unlikely to change any time soon. Indeed, as Armstrong suggested during the earnings call, both prediction market sites [Kalshi]() and [Polymarket]() had open bets betting on what Coinbase leadership would say during its next earnings call. Around 8 pm on Thursday, percentages for bets on the company saying the words "Bitcoin," "Prediction Market," and "Web 3" all shot up to just under 100 percent on Kalshi, perfectly aligning with Armstrong's remarks at the end of Thursday's earnings call. As [*TradingView* reports](), both Kalshi and Polymarket saw $80,242 and $3,912 worth of bets placed, respectively. Netizens were amused and impressed by Armstrong's gambit. "Keep breaking the fourth wall, Brian Armstrong," one user [tweeted](). "This is as good as it gets." "This prediction market stuff is going to end badly," another user [warned](). "Way too easy to manipulate, as Brian just showed us." "Lol, this was fun — happened spontaneously when someone on our team dropped a link in the chat," Armstrong [tweeted]() later. **More on Polymarket:** [*Crypto Prediction Platform Polymarket Was Utterly Wrong About the New Pope*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()