Coinbase has taken a significant step towards its goal of becoming an “Everything Exchange” by expanding its platform to include traditional financial instruments and event-prediction markets alongside cryptocurrencies. This marks a major shift for the US-listed crypto exchange, which is moving beyond digital assets to offer a unified trading experience encompassing stocks, futures, perpetuals, and real-world event contracts within its core app.
The rollout, announced on 17 December, begins in the United States with commission-free stock trading. Users can now access major equities and ETFs within the familiar Coinbase interface, allowing them to manage stock and crypto positions without switching platforms. A notable feature is the ability to trade outside regular market hours, catering to both retail and active traders. Additionally, Coinbase is developing tokenised stocks, which could eventually enable 24/7 global trading and onchain use of equities, bringing traditional finance closer to full digitalisation.
Alongside stock trading, Coinbase has introduced prediction markets. These allow users to trade contracts linked to outcomes of real-world events such as elections, economic releases, sports, and cultural happenings. Supported at launch by market flow from Kalshi, this feature offers a new way for users to express opinions and hedge against future developments—all within the same app ecosystem.
This expansion positions Coinbase to compete with traditional brokers and retail trading platforms that offer multi-asset services while diversifying its revenue beyond crypto trading. The move comes amid growing industry competition, with rivals like Robinhood also embracing prediction markets and tokenised securities. Despite ongoing regulatory challenges related to event contracts in the US, Coinbase’s integrated approach aims to boost user engagement, improve cross-asset liquidity, and transform retail trading experiences.
Forex traders should watch this development closely, as it signals increasing convergence of markets and trading instruments on single platforms. However, history suggests that retail traders often face difficulties generating consistent returns despite the attractive features of these new “all-in-one” exchanges.
Original Source: Eamonn Sheridan of investinglive.com
