Coinbase put a live trading competition from Singapore in front of an online audience on Oct. 8, offering a $150,000 prize to the trader who would be crowned Coinbase Champion. The event featured 10 traders competing in perpetual futures, with results displayed through dollar-denominated profit-and-loss figures.
According to CryptoSlate, Coinbase presented the Token 2049 Champions Cup as an esports-style spectator tournament. The broadcast combined trading updates with contestant introductions, walkout videos, jokes and commentary, while the event page tracked each participant’s performance.
At 6:54 p.m. UTC, the event page showed Intern at the top with a displayed profit and loss of $4,263.37. However, the page did not identify those standings as final and did not explicitly name Intern as the champion. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong promoted the livestream as it began, saying a trader would be crowned within an hour and receive the $150,000 award.
A competition built around perpetual futures
Perpetual futures are derivatives contracts that allow traders to take positions on an asset without an expiry date. Because these products can be traded with leverage, relatively small market movements can produce larger gains or losses in a trader’s account. In Coinbase’s contest, the leaderboard measured participants by their reported profit and loss in dollars.
The company introduced or mentioned several competitors during the broadcast, including Ansem, @izebel_eth, @intern, @Goupenguin, @osf_rekt and @insomniacxbt. Coinbase said that @osf_rekt moved into first place at 1:32 p.m. UTC. Seven minutes earlier, an update involving @insomniacxbt said 35 minutes remained to win the prize.
The coverage also used entertainment elements to keep viewers engaged. Coinbase joked that @Goupenguin was trading while watching cats, while Intern became part of the event’s running commentary after the company said he had chosen to make memes and was backing Jez to win.
Viewers could vote, but winning was not guaranteed
Coinbase separately invited viewers to select a trader through the Champions tab in its app. The promotion was available only in certain geographies, and its official rules said that no purchase was required. Trading or spending would not improve a participant’s odds in the associated prize drawing.
Only viewers who selected the winning trader could qualify for the random drawing. If two or more traders finished tied for the highest total profit and loss, votes for any of those tied traders would qualify. The rules provided for three voting rounds, with one trader chosen in each round and a maximum of three votes per participant. Entrants had to be eligible app users aged at least 18 and at the age of majority, with additional jurisdictional and, in some markets, onboarding conditions.
Market picture
Moneyiar market data at 11:14 a.m. UTC+3 on Oct. 9, 2026, showed Cronos (CRO) at $0.0609242203, down 2.06% over 24 hours and 12.52% over seven days. BAS was at $0.0227391347, up 0.34% in 24 hours but down 4.27% over seven days.
Walrus (WAL) traded at $0.0337645044, with a 24-hour decline of 4.85% and a seven-day decline of 2.42%. RedStone (RED) stood at $0.1461175971, down 2.64% over 24 hours and 15.64% over seven days.
