Coinbase has secured an early procedural win in its authorized standoff with Nevada regulators, blocking an emergency effort to instantly shut down its prediction markets providing within the state.
Abstract
- Coinbase blocked Nevada regulators’ emergency bid to instantly halt its prediction markets, with a state court docket declining to grant a brief restraining order.
- The trade argues prediction markets fall beneath unique CFTC jurisdiction, not state playing legal guidelines, a place reiterated by Coinbase CLO Paul Grewal.
A Nevada court docket declined to grant the Nevada Gaming Management Board’s (NGCB) request for a brief restraining order that may have compelled Coinbase to halt its event-based contracts for native customers. As a substitute, the court docket scheduled a full listening to, permitting Coinbase’s prediction markets to stay reside whereas the case proceeds.
Coinbase Chief Authorized Officer Paul Grewal confirmed the ruling in a publish on X, arguing that Nevada’s emergency submitting tried to sidestep federal regulation.
Grewal reiterated that Congress has granted the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC) unique jurisdiction over these contracts, leaving state gaming regulators with out authority to intervene.
Coinbase started providing prediction markets final month throughout 50 U.S. states by way of a partnership with Kalshi.
Nevada’s playing argument in opposition to Coinbase
The NGCB filed swimsuit earlier this month, claiming Coinbase’s prediction markets quantity to unlicensed sports activities wagering beneath Nevada regulation. Regulators argued the merchandise pose a menace to the state’s closely regulated gaming business.
Based on the grievance, Coinbase’s markets permit customers to commerce on real-world outcomes in a way that resembles conventional betting, bringing them squarely inside Nevada’s playing statutes. On that foundation, the state sought an emergency injunction, arguing speedy motion was wanted to forestall irreparable hurt.
Coinbase countered that the emergency request was legally flawed and overly broad. In its filings, the corporate argued that even when the court docket had been to dam Coinbase, Nevada residents may nonetheless entry an identical contracts by way of federally regulated platforms, undermining the state’s declare of urgency.
The Nevada case follows comparable regulatory pushback in different states, together with Michigan, Illinois, and Connecticut, the place Coinbase has proactively sought court docket rulings to affirm federal preemption.
Whereas the court docket’s refusal to grant emergency aid doesn’t resolve the case, it provides Coinbase invaluable respiratory room and indicators judicial warning round reclassifying federally regulated contracts as unlawful playing.
