PANews reported on August 9 that according to The Block, Coinbase criticized the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) late Thursday, opposing its proposed rulemaking to ban certain prediction contracts. Paul Grewal, chief legal officer of Coinbase, posted on the X platform: "The CFTC market is a promising area for our future economy, which is why we responded to the CFTC's proposed rulemaking notice today. We fully support the CFTC's mission to maintain the integrity of the U.S. derivatives market and believe that they can provide a strong regulatory framework for this emerging category of contracts. However, if this proposal is adopted, many prediction contracts will be banned for no reason." Grewal further pointed out that the proposal evaluates the contract as not in the public interest and beyond the category of the CFTC's statutory authority.
In a more detailed letter to CFTC Secretary Christopher Kirkpatrick, Coinbase “strongly” urged the CFTC to withdraw the proposal and work with academia, industry, and policy stakeholders to develop a “more balanced” approach to foster innovation while maintaining market integrity.
Earlier this week, U.S. lawmakers called on the CFTC to ban election gambling such as Polymarket.