The stock trading and prediction markets announcements came at a San Francisco event titled System Upgrade that featured stage presentations by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and other executives, who also announced new trading features and a platform called Coinbase Business aimed at startups and small businesses. The event comes as the company is seeking to brand itself as an “everything exchange.”
The new stock trading feature is the most significant announcement by far as it will be a crucial test of whether Coinbase can leverage its dominant crypto brand to expand into other sectors. It will also allow it to compete more directly with Robinhood, which made its name as a stock-trading app, but has since made significant inroads into crypto.
Coinbase will initially offer only a curated list of major stocks and ETFs, but says it will expand this to thousands of other stocks in coming months. The company says stock trading will be available 24 hours a day on five days of the week, and that there will be no fee to trade. Early next year, Coinbase plans to roll out perpetual futures for stocks—a type of derivative pioneered by the crypto industry that lets traders hold options that do not expire. The perpetual futures offering will only be available outside the U.S.
Coinbase also used the San Francisco event to announce that its Base App is now available in 140 countries. The app, which debuted this summer, aims to let ordinary people launch financial and creative products on the company’s blockchain and earn a share of the revenue they create.
Other services unveiled by Coinbase on Wednesday included expanded access to the Solana blockchain via a decentralized exchange, and an AI-powered wealth management tool called Coinbase Advisor.
