Coinbase made two major moves this week, confirming plans to unveil prediction markets at an upcoming showcase event while opening its platform to millions of unvetted Solana tokens.

The dual announcements position Coinbase to compete across multiple fronts: against traditional crypto exchanges on blockchain access, against Kalshi and Polymarket on prediction markets, and against Robinhood and MetaMask on platform consolidation.

The Solana integration, announced at the Breakpoint conference in Abu Dhabi, enables direct trading of all Solana tokens through an integrated decentralized exchange, eliminating the traditional listing process. The move gives the platform’s more than 100 million users immediate access to tokens the moment they launch.

“Millions of assets are launching on chain every day,” Andrew Allen, Coinbase’s senior protocol specialist, told attendees. “This allows you to trade any token on Solana the moment they become available on chain.”

Separately, Bloomberg reported that Coinbase plans to unveil prediction markets and tokenized equities at a showcase event scheduled for December 17.

The plans were already suspected after a November leak revealed screenshots of a Coinbase-branded prediction product operating through a partnership with Kalshi. Coinbase declined to confirm the product, but pointed to the December 17 event.

Coinbase’s Solana integration represents a fundamental shift in how centralized exchanges operate. The platform’s new decentralized exchange feature routes trades directly to on-chain liquidity pools, eliminating weeks-long review processes that have historically limited which projects could reach mainstream investors.

The integration builds on Coinbase’s November acquisition of Vector, a Solana-based trading platform that enhances speed, liquidity, and asset variety by connecting directly with Coinbase’s decentralized trading system.

The strategy mirrors moves across the industry. MetaMask recently launched event contracts through an exclusive partnership with Polymarket as parent company Consensys prepares for an IPO.

Similarly, Robinhood has layered event contracts onto its stock, crypto, and derivatives business. The company traded 2.5 billion contracts in October alone as CEO Vlad Tenev pursues the same consolidation strategy, recently acquiring an exchange and clearinghouse to operate its own prediction markets infrastructure.

On the same day, the Coalition for Prediction Markets launched with Coinbase, Kalshi, Crypto.com, Robinhood, and sports gaming platform Underdog as founding members.

“At Coinbase, our mission is to deliver financial freedom to the world – and prediction markets by nature democratize fact finding and the seeking of truth,” said Faryar Shizad, Chief Policy Officer at Coinbase. “We’re proud to join the Coalition for Prediction Markets as they work with policymakers to ensure these markets develop and remain accessible to the American people.”

Sara Slane, Kalshi’s head of corporate development and a coalition executive, emphasized the regulatory focus: “We spent years working with the CFTC because prediction markets must operate with strong federal safeguards that prevent insider trading, protect consumers, and ensure these markets remain transparent and corruption-free.”

The coalition’s formation comes as prediction platforms face increasing pressure from state gambling regulators and the American Gaming Association, which argues that event contracts circumvent established gambling laws.

Macquarie analyst Chad Beynon projects the U.S. prediction markets industry could reach $5 billion in annual volume, split between $4.4 billion in sports-only contracts and $600 million in non-sports derivatives.

This race to become the “everything app” reflects a broader bet that traders prefer consolidated platforms over specialized services.

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