Coinbase users push back against prediction markets notifications

While prediction market platforms are under legal scrutiny in the US, many Coinbase users are claiming that the app is pushing them to gamble.

Negative reactions to cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase using its notifications to push bets on event contracts amid the March Madness basketball tournament range from “annoying” to “absurd.”

In January, Coinbase rolled out prediction market bets for US-based users as part of a partnership with Kalshi. However, for some users, the last two months have been seen as an opportunity for the exchange to get people “hooked on sports gambling” using an app that many had devoted to crypto trading.

“I have received three separate notifications about College Basketball from Coinbase in the past *hour* alone,” said X user AvgJoesCrypto on Thursday. “It is absurd that, amidst arguably the worst collapse in trust in this industry’s history, the largest American CEX has completely pivoted to trying to get their customer base hooked on sports gambling, so that they can extract even more exorbitant fees.”

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