Coinbase streams $150,000 Singapore trading cup as Intern leads displayed standings
In brief
- Coinbase streamed an in-person trading contest from Singapore on Oct. 8.
- Token 2049 Champions Cup advertised $150,000 for one of 10 traders.
- Intern ranked first on the event page at 6:54 p.m. UTC, with $4,263.37 in P&L.
- CryptoSlate's report didn't confirm a winner.
- Viewers in certain geographies could vote in a free promotion tied to a prize drawing.
Ten traders, one prize
Coinbase's Token 2049 Champions Cup page described the contest as an esports-style perpetual-futures tournament with 10 traders and one winner. The standings tracked each trader's profit and loss in dollars. CEO Brian Armstrong promoted the event as it went live, saying one trader would be crowned Coinbase Champion and win $150,000 "in an hour."
It wasn't a quiet trading session.
The broadcast mixed trading updates with walkouts, jokes and an invitation for viewers to pick a contestant. Coinbase's walkout and introduction posts named Ansem (@blknoiz06), @izebel_eth and @intern, and later updates named @Goupenguin, @osf_rekt and @insomniacxbt (the company said @osf_rekt made a high-energy entrance). Coinbase joked that @Goupenguin was trading while watching cats. It also said @intern had decided to make memes instead and was backing Jez to win.
How the leaderboard moved
The lead changed hands during the stream. A Coinbase post about @insomniacxbt said 35 minutes were left to win the prize, and seven minutes later, at 1:32 p.m. UTC, the company said @osf_rekt had moved into first place.
That's not where the page ended up. Intern, a running joke throughout the broadcast, later topped the displayed standings, and at 6:54 p.m. UTC the event page listed Intern first with $4,263.37 in profit and loss. CryptoSlate didn't report a confirmed winner, so the leaderboard is the only result on the record so far.
Voting came with its own rules
Coinbase also invited viewers in certain geographies to vote for a trader in the Champions tab of its app. Its official rules, as described by CryptoSlate, framed the vote as a free promotion: no purchase was necessary, and spending or trading wouldn't improve a participant's chance of winning.
The rules called for three voting rounds, with one trader picked per round and up to three votes in total. Only votes for the winning trader qualified for a random prize drawing. If traders tied for the highest total profit and loss, votes for any of the tied traders qualified.
Entry was limited to eligible app users who were at least 18 and of the age of majority. Jurisdiction requirements applied, and some markets also had onboarding requirements.
So who actually took the $150,000? The displayed standings point to Intern, but the reporting so far stops short of saying so.
