Coinbase CEO responds to criticism over betting prompts in app
Coinbase CEO backs user choice but warns high-risk products need careful in-app promotion rules.Zookos complaint turned Coinbase prediction markets into a debate over vulnerable users and app design.Coinbases broader product push adds betting-style markets while regulators argue over sports event contracts nationwide. The exchange chief defended user choice, but said platforms should treat high-risk products with care when serving less experienced users. You might also like: Base says same sequencer bug caused June 25 and 26 outages Zooko criticizes betting prompts Zooko said on X that he had spoken with a young and financially vulnerable Coinbase user. He claimed the app had started prompting that user to bet on sports and the price of Bitcoin. He said the situation made him “ashamed” to be part of the crypto industry. His post quickly turned into a wider debate about how large crypto apps should promote prediction markets and similar products. The criticism comes as Coinbase expands beyond spot crypto trading. Recent coverage of Coinbase‘s pre-IPO perpetual futures described the firm’s push to combine crypto, stocks, prediction markets and futures inside one account. That wider product strategy gives users more ways to trade. It also raises questions about how trading apps present risk, especially when products look simple inside a