The largest American cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, has found itself at the center of a scandal caused by a glaring error in its own AI system. The platform sent clients a push notification with what appeared to be the final score of a World Cup match between Norway and Brazil, which had not even started yet due to weather conditions.
According to the AI-generated message, the Norwegians allegedly won 3:2, with a brace attributed to striker Erling Haaland. The notification arrived on users' screens before the opening whistle, causing shock and outrage in the crypto community. Sports fans and traders began mass-publishing screenshots, accusing the exchange's management of irresponsibly spreading false information, creating serious reputational risks for the financial market.
Failure of the "Most Trusted Brand"
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong quickly responded to the incident, acknowledging the glitch. "Looking into it with the team — thanks for the heads up," he wrote in his first public comment. However, this situation severely damages the image of the top manager, who had previously actively promoted prediction markets as "the perfect tool for finding truth." In January, Armstrong stated that real money bets force participants to verify information more thoroughly than journalists. The irony is that the exchange's own AI simulated the final of a non-existent match and misled millions of clients.
In its 2025 shareholder report, Coinbase declared an ambitious goal of becoming the most trusted brand in the digital asset industry. After this incident, such statements only provoke skepticism. The platform's reputation has suffered before: in late 2025, Armstrong made a questionable move during a call with investors, placing a bet on a prediction platform and prompting traders to profit from his wording.
Hallucinations as the New Normal?
The scandal coincides with a large-scale integration of automated assistants into the exchange's infrastructure. It is known that earlier in 2025, management laid off some programmers who refused to use neural networks for writing code. Armstrong boasted that about 40% of daily generated code is written by AI, and set a goal to exceed 50%. Later, the company cut AI costs while adding automated functions, which likely led to a lack of proper quality control over output data.
This is not the first time Coinbase has faced complaints about its app's performance. In March, Armstrong explained a similar glitch as a "bug in the push notification targeting system." He noted that otherwise, they would have had to "strictly limit clients," which contradicts the spirit of the free market. However, the current incident with the fake World Cup prediction is no longer just a bug, but a systemic problem demonstrating the consequences of blind trust in uncontrolled algorithms.
Expert opinion: This case is a vivid example of AI "hallucinations" becoming a critical threat for businesses relying on automation without proper human oversight. Coinbase urgently needs to implement a multi-level verification system for data generated by neural networks, otherwise trust in the platform will be completely undermined. The market does not forgive such mistakes, especially when real money and reputation are at stake.