- Coinbase will acquire prediction market startup The Clearing Company in January to expand its trading options for real-world events.
- The acquisition includes nearly all of the startup’s staff and its founder who previously held leadership roles at competitors Polymarket and Kalshi.
- This move supports Coinbase’s strategy to become an everything exchange by integrating regulated on-chain prediction products alongside standard crypto trading.
Leading crypto exchange Coinbase said it will acquire The Clearing Company, a small startup focused on prediction markets, as it expands into trading tied to real-world events.
The deal should close in January, subject to standard conditions.
Moreover, Coinbase said The Clearing Company’s team will help expand Coinbase’s prediction markets product. The startup had about 10 employees, and Coinbase said nearly all of them will join the company.
Coinbase did not disclose the price, calling it “immaterial,” and said the deal will be paid with a mix of cash and Coinbase stock. The Clearing Company’s founder said joining Coinbase will help bring prediction markets to more users.
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More Competition On The Prediction Market
Prediction markets let users trade on outcomes like election results, economic data releases, or sports results. They’re now one of the biggest sources for crowd/market sentiment around several distinct events and situations, so much so that CNN recently partnered with Kalshi, Polymarket’s biggest competitor, to bring real-time probabilities into its reporting.
Both Kalshi and Polymarket are looking at valuations north of US$10 billion (AU$15 billion), though Kalshi was recently hit with a class action lawsuit due to illegal sports betting and rigged market-making, as Crypto News Australia reported.
Coinbase started rolling out these markets on its platform last week, adding them alongside its crypto and other trading products as part of its “everything exchange” plan.
The Clearing Company was founded earlier this year by Toni Gemayel, a former growth lead at Polymarket and Kalshi. The startup raised US$15 million (AU$22 million) in August and aimed to build a regulated, on-chain prediction markets platform.
Coinbase said its prediction markets launched through a regulated venue and used Kalshi as its initial source of liquidity, meaning Coinbase relied on Kalshi’s market activity to help match trades. The firm said it plans to add more platforms and market types over time.
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