Coinbase doubles down on becoming a one-stop financial app, buying prediction-market start-up
Coinbase announced Monday that it will acquire prediction market start-up The Clearing Company — its tenth acquisition of 2025 — as the exchange pushes to transform itself into what CEO Brian Armstrong calls an “Everything Exchange.” The deal, whose terms were not disclosed, is expected to close in January 2026.
Why it matters
- The acquisition advances Coinbase’s plan to add prediction markets to a broader product suite that already targets stocks, advanced trading tools, derivatives and tokenized real-world assets.
- Prediction markets surged into mainstream view during the 2024 U.S. presidential race (led by platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket), and Coinbase is betting that outcome-based trading can boost engagement and diversify revenue away from pure crypto spot trading.
- This transaction follows a busy year of M&A for Coinbase, which in May agreed to acquire derivatives exchange Deribit for $2.9 billion and in October struck a deal for investment platform Echo, valued at about $375 million.
What Coinbase is building
Armstrong has laid out an ambition to let users trade a wide range of instruments — from stocks and streamlined futures to perpetual contracts and prediction markets — all within one app. Coinbase’s partnership with Kalshi and now the purchase of The Clearing Company underline that strategy.
Beyond product expansions, Coinbase is rolling out institutional and developer-focused infrastructure:
- Coinbase Tokenize: an institutional-grade stack to support tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs).
- Coinbase Business: now accessible to qualifying customers in the U.S. and Singapore.
- Expanded API suite: custody, payments, trading and stablecoin services for businesses and developers.
- Custom stablecoins: branded stablecoin options for companies.
- x402 payments standard: aimed at simplifying stablecoin transactions tied to web requests.
Analyst reaction
Market observers see the moves as engagement playbooks as much as product expansion. Benchmark analysts highlighted prediction markets’ potential to create a high-frequency use case that keeps users in the app beyond occasional crypto trades. JP Morgan analysts similarly noted that many of Coinbase’s new initiatives are focused on increasing customer interaction — an area the exchange has historically found challenging.
Outlook
With The Clearing Company expected to join Coinbase in early 2026, the acquisition is another step in the exchange’s year-long push to broaden its addressable market and reduce dependence on volatile crypto trading volumes. Investors appear to be watching closely: Coinbase’s stock (COIN) closed Monday at $247.90.
(Deal terms were not disclosed. Timing and product roadmaps are subject to change.)
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