Updated:
Mar 28, 2026 , 07:28 PM ET
• 4 min read
In this case, the court felt that “based on the current state of the law” the Commodity Exchange Act “fairly interpreted does not vest exclusive jurisdiction over event contracts traded through Coinbase’s platforms with the CFTC.”
Photo By – Reuters Connect. The flag of the U.S. state Nevada is seen in this illustration. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
The First Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada granted a preliminary injunction against Coinbase, banning the prediction market operator from offering event contracts in the state.
Key Takeaways
- Court granted Nevada a temporary restraining order in February, preventing Coinbase from operating in the state.
- On March 26, the Court granted a preliminary injunction to Nevada, based on its belief that the state was likely to prevail in its case against Coinbase.
- The preliminary injunction against Coinbase came within a week of Nevada’s successful TRO against its prediction markets collaborator, Kalshi.
Nevada has been front and center on the predictions markets news front. Within just one week, the state of Nevada was successful on two court decisions in its current battle with prediction market operators. On March 20, the state was granted a temporary restraining order (TRO), preventing the prediction market operator Kalshi from conducting business in Nevada. On Friday, the state was granted a preliminary injunction against Kalshi’s partner, Coinbase.
Coinbase was primarily a cryptocurrency trading platform. But earlier this year, the company launched a predictions markets business in partnership with Kalshi.
BREAKING: Nevada state court issues preliminary injunction barring Coinbase from offering sports-, election-, and entertainment-related event contracts in Nevada, holds that the CEA does not preempt Nevada’s gambling laws. States are now 14-2 vs. PMs in contested TRO/PI motions. pic.twitter.com/wlnTMOzdDp
— Daniel Wallach (@WALLACHLEGAL) March 28, 2026
There are currently more than a dozen states embroiled in lawsuits with prediction markets. Prediction markets offer contracts on everything from sporting events to geopolitical events. They are neither licensed nor regulated by the states in which they are currently operating.
Prediction markets claim they don’t need to be, asserting that the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) exclusively relegates their regulation to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Many states – and a few courts – don’t share the jurisdictional view held by prediction markets. They don’t believe, for instance, that state gambling laws are preempted by the CEA. In this case, the court felt that “based on the current state of the law” the CEA “fairly interpreted does not vest exclusive jurisdiction over event contracts traded through Coinbase’s platforms with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.”
While many of the recent cases have gone the states’ way, there is still division in the courts. Recently, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was granted a preliminary injunction against Kalshi. Meanwhile, a court granted Kalshi a preliminary injunction against the state of Tennessee, preventing regulators from enforcing state gambling laws.
Considering the number of cases involving the legality and regulation of prediction markets – and the murkiness of the issue of federal preemption – it seems likely that the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually be called to weigh in.
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