Coinbase has officially acquired The Clearing Company, a team specializing in prediction markets, signaling a potential shift of these markets from niche speculation to mainstream financial infrastructure. This move comes as Binance's CZ actively promotes prediction markets on the BNB Chain and supports the integration of platforms like Kalshi. The acquisition by Coinbase highlights a growing interest in regulated prediction markets, which are seen as a blend of entertainment betting and collective intelligence driven by financial incentives. As major players enter the space, there is speculation about whether prediction markets can evolve into a universal pricing mechanism bridging Web3 and traditional finance. The focus now turns to how these markets can scale while maintaining transparency and compliance to prevent information manipulation and ensure accurate probability assessments.