- Coinbase plans to offer several new products, including stock trading and prediction markets, executives said at an event in San Francisco.
- He said the cryptocurrency exchange is building “a full range of exchanges.”
- Other announcements on Wednesday included deeper integration between Solana and tokenization platforms.
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase on Wednesday significantly expanded its product suite, detailing plans for stock trading, prediction markets, an AI-powered financial advisor, and more.
The announcement was touted as a significant step in Coinbase's efforts to build an “everything exchange.”
“Coinbase is no longer just a place to trade cryptocurrencies, it’s a place to trade everything,” CEO Brian Armstrong said during a livestream event announcing the new product.
“Exchanging everything creates a future where all assets are tokenized and accessible to everyone in a seamless, secure, and user-friendly experience.”
Starting Wednesday, U.S. users will be able to trade stocks and ETFs alongside cryptocurrencies in the Coinbase app 24 hours a day, five days a week, said Max Brandsberg, the company's head of consumer products.
“The best part is that you only need one account so you can trade stocks and a huge variety of cryptocurrencies in one place,” Brunsberg said. “One Portfolio View, One Wallet, One Trade History”
A blog post accompanying Wednesday's event noted that after-hours trading is only available on “eligible symbols” and may suffer from “reduced liquidity and widening spreads.”
Next year, the company also plans to roll out Coinbase Tokenize, a platform that allows users to tokenize stocks and other real-world assets.
Solana expansion
However, Coinbase wasn't just focused on expanding beyond cryptocurrencies. The exchange also detailed its plans to expand crypto trading.
In the coming weeks, users will be able to trade on Jupiter, a Solana-based decentralized exchange aggregator, within the Coinbase app.
This is the company's first expansion of in-app DEX trading, which was first announced in June. In-app use of decentralized exchanges was initially limited to exchanges on Base, a layer 2 blockchain built by Coinbase.
Integrating decentralized exchanges dramatically increases the number of crypto assets that can be traded on Coinbase.
Coinbase's long-running centralized exchange (wholly owned and managed by the company) only lists tokens that have passed a “rigorous vetting/review process that evaluates assets against legal, compliance, and technical security standards,” the company's website states.
However, creating a new token requires little effort, and there are millions of them in the world of decentralized finance.
Karushi and AI
Coinbase also plans to offer prediction markets to users in the US through a partnership with Kalshi. The company said it will support contracts from other prediction market platforms “in the coming months.”
Users looking to invest in stocks, cryptocurrencies, or event contracts now have access to an AI-powered “advisor” who can recommend investments.
Lincoln Ma, head of the team that built Coinbase Advisor, pitched the product as a way to democratize success in the financial markets.
“Historically, quality financial guidance has been kept behind a velvet rope,” he said Wednesday. “It was a luxury item designed for the wealthy.”
To generate investment advice based on the user's prompts, the tool asks questions that clarify things like the user's risk tolerance.
“You may find opportunities you never thought to ask,” says Marr.
He did not elaborate on what safeguards were built into the tool, saying that despite significant advances in the field, artificial intelligence remains prone to error, but said the tool had been “actively curated by a team of portfolio managers with a combined 75 years of experience.”
Finally, executives said the exchange will also simplify the process of issuing new branded stablecoins backed by USDC.
Aleks Gilbert is a DeFi reporter for DL News based in New York. Contact us at aleks@dlnews.com.
