Polymarket gets $2 billion investment from NYSE parent company
Another major story for prediction markets as the owners of the New York Stock Exchange have bought a huge piece of Polymarket.
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, has announced a $2 billion investment in Polymarket, a blockchain-based prediction market platform.
The deal marks one of the largest moves by a traditional financial institution into the emerging field of decentralised betting on real-world events.
ICE will acquire a minority stake in Polymarket, with the intention of integrating its market prediction technology into regulated financial products. Polymarket operates by allowing users to trade shares on the outcome of future events, from elections to sports to economic indicators, using cryptocurrency.
Growing interest in prediction markets
Polymarket operates on the Polygon blockchain, a system that allows for fast and inexpensive transactions compared to Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Following the investment, Polymarket’s founder Shayne Coplan said the partnership with ICE would accelerate the platform’s growth and help bridge the gap between traditional finance and decentralised prediction technologies. “Our vision is to make information markets a mainstream tool for understanding the world,” Coplan said.
Last month Polymarket was valued at around $10 billion, the investment from ICE would suggest they are valued closer to $8 billion. This week, its rival Kalshi announced its intention to integrate into crypto apps by next year. Polymarket's new investment from ICE puts them in a strong position against Kalshi, which is regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
