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Coinbase users blast ‘March Madness’ push notifications

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Coinbase users blast 'March Madness' push notifications

Coinbase users are complaining about receiving multiple push notifications per day urging them to “predict” sports gameplay during “March Madness” college basketball.

Indeed, so many complaints were reported via X that it became a trending topic yesterday.

Many customers, echoing allegations by state attorneys general in Michigan and Arizona, described the annoying promotions as de facto advertisements to gamble on sports.

Coinbase, is one of the longest continually-operated bitcoin (BTC) exchanges which safeguards billions of dollars’ worth of assets for customers.

However, rather than focus on long-term investments like BTC, Coinbase regularly floods its app with short-term promotions, all-or-nothing predictions, memecoins, leveraged derivatives, and other high-risk wagers. 

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Full-screen promotions tempt many users into risky trades while many customers don’t see a single mention of BTC during their entire Coinbase app experience.

Indeed, the homepage of the app as of Protos’ last check, featured a “March Madness” advertisement at the top of the homescreen with no mention of BTC above the fold.

One customer and Coinbase stockholder posted screenshots of the basketball notifications, which arrived several times daily. “This is essentially encouraging me to gamble,” he wrote.

‘Very bad for our industry’

CEO Brian Armstrong responded the same afternoon, calling it “a fair point” and promising customization options. However, the concession only drew sharper criticism.

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Alexander Leishman, founder of BTC exchange River, replied to Armstrong: “It’s long term very bad for our industry to be pushing sports betting. The blowback will impact all of us.”

Days earlier, a Messari researcher had posted a nearly identical complaint. “Why am I getting notifications from Coinbase about betting odds for college basketball games?” he wrote.

“This is just reinforcing the notion that crypto is just another gambling product, and not an actual investment to be taken seriously.”

Crypto attorney Ariel Givner compared the moment to Juul’s rise and fall.

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Other users were more blunt. “Every time I open your d*** app, I’m getting bombarded with gambling notifications,” one wrote, tagging Coinbase directly.

Read more: NHS exec warns that crypto trading could fuel problem gambling

Coinbase sports ‘event contracts’

Coinbase launched prediction markets in all 50 states in January 2026 through a partnership with Kalshi.

Users can place “prediction” trades on sports, politics, and culture outcomes, funding trades with cash or USDC. Under federal law, these are legally “event contracts,” not sports bets.

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Coinbase has sued regulators in Connecticut, Michigan, and Illinois who disagree.

The legal distinction hasn’t convinced everyone.

Nevada, Illinois, and Connecticut have all argued these contracts are functionally gambling while a class action lawsuit in New York alleged that Kalshi “dupes consumers… when they are actually gambling against the house.”

Illinois regulators stated plainly that athletic competitions aren’t economic instruments. Chris Christie told CNBC, “If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. It’s a sports bet.”

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Coinbase disagrees entirely and is suing various regulators who have likened its prediction markets to gambling.

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Crypto World

Aave’s TVL Falls $8B After $293M Kelp DAO Hack

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Aave’s TVL Falls $8B After $293M Kelp DAO Hack

Total value locked on decentralized lending protocol Aave dropped by nearly $8 billion over the weekend after hackers behind the $293 million Kelp DAO exploit borrowed funds on Aave, leaving roughly $195 million in “bad debt” on the protocol and triggering withdrawals.

Data from DeFiLlama shows that Aave’s TVL fell from about $26.4 billion to $18.6 billion by Sunday, losing the top spot as the largest DeFi protocol. 

Aave v3’s lending pools for USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC) are now at 100% utilization, meaning that more than $5.1 billion worth of stablecoins cannot be withdrawn until new liquidity arrives or borrows are repaid. 

$2,540 is available to be withdrawn from the $2.87 billion USDT pool on Aave v3 at the time of writing. Source: Aave

Aave’s TVL fall shows how rapidly risk from a single security incident can spread throughout the broader, interconnected DeFi lending market, potentially leading to a severe liquidity crisis.

The incident began on Saturday when hackers stole 116,500 Kelp DAO Restaked ETH (rsETH) tokens worth about $293 million from Kelp DAO’s LayerZero-powered bridge and used them as collateral on Aave v3 to borrow wrapped Ether (wETH).

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Crypto analytics platform Lookonchain said the move created about $195 million in “bad debt” on Aave, which contributed to the Aave (AAVE) token tanking nearly 20% from $112 on Saturday at 6:00 pm UTC to $89.5 about 25 hours later. 

Lookonchain noted that some of the largest crypto whales to withdraw funds from Aave were the MEXC crypto exchange and Abraxas Capital at $431 million and $392 million, respectively.

Source: Grvt

Several crypto networks and protocols tied to rsETH or the LayerZero bridge have paused use of the bridge until the problem is resolved, including DeFi platform Curve Finance, stablecoin issuer Ethena and BitGo’s Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC).

Aave has frozen several rsETH, wETH markets

Shortly after the Kelp DAO exploit, Aave said it froze the rsETH markets on both Aave v3 and v4 to prevent any suspicious borrowing and later stated that rsETH on Ethereum mainnet remains fully backed by underlying assets.

WETH reserves also remain frozen on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Mantle and Linea, Aave said.

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This incident marks the first significant stress test of Aave’s “Umbrella” security model, which was introduced in June 2025 to provide automated protection against protocol bad debt while enabling users to earn rewards.

Related: Aave DAO backs V4 mainnet plan in near-unanimous vote

Earlier this month, the Bank of Canada found that Aave avoided bad debt in its v3 market by using overcollateralization, automated liquidations and other strategies that shifted risk to borrowers.

In comments to Cointelegraph, Aave defended its liquidation-based model, framing it as a core safety mechanism that protects lenders while limiting downside for borrowers.

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It comes as Aave parted ways with its longest-standing DeFi risk service provider, Chaos Labs, on April 6, following disagreements over the direction of Aave v4 and budget constraints.

Magazine: Are DeFi devs liable for the illegal activity of others on their platforms?