The "Casino State" has hit a stumbling block in its crusade against the prediction market industry, as a local judge has refused to summarily execute Coinbase’s new trading platform without a fair hearing.
Nevada Court Rejects Emergency Request To Shutter Coinbase Markets
5 February 2026 - 12:35 CET
By Stu Clelland
While Polymarket remains geofenced and sidelined following a 14-day temporary restraining order last week, Coinbase has managed to dodge an immediate blackout. In a ruling handed down on 4 Feb, a Nevada state court denied the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s (NGCB) request for an emergency order to shutter Coinbase’s event-based markets.
Federal law trumps state protectionism
The pushback comes courtesy of Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, who appears to have made it his mission to remind state regulators that they do not hold a monopoly on risk. Grewal announced the ruling via X and said the court has set a full hearing for next week, granting the exchange a chance to defend its operations before the state can pull the plug.
Coinbase’s legal strategy is straightforward: the company contends that federal law overrides local panic. The exchange argues that the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) grants the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction over these contracts. In Grewal’s view, it is Congress that calls the shots, not a group of regulators in Carson City who are understandably twitchy about any platform that looks like a bet but does not pay into the state’s tax coffers.
A tale of two platforms
The contrast between the two major players is stark. Polymarket, operated by Blockratize, is currently licking its wounds after Judge Jason Woodbury granted a 14-day temporary restraining order on 29 Jan. That order effectively sidelined them for the Super Bowl - the high holy day of Nevada gambling.
Coinbase has a sturdier shield. Their prediction markets are offered via a partnership with Kalshi, a CFTC-designated contract market. By leaning on Kalshi’s federal registration, Strategy (the company formerly known as Microstrategy) might have pioneered the corporate treasury play, but Coinbase is pioneering the regulatory one. They are betting that the courts will see their "event contracts" as financial derivatives rather than unlicensed wagers.
The NGCB remains adamant that these platforms cause "irreparable harm" to the integrity of the state’s gaming industry, which generates $15.5bn in annual revenue, while claiming to protect the public from "unlicensed gambling" at the same time.
