Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based prediction market platform, successfully raised $45 million in a Series B funding round amid a surge in popularity ahead of the U.S. presidential election. According to Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan, who communicated with CoinDesk via Telegram, the round was led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, with notable contributions from Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin, 1confirmation, ParaFi, and Dragonfly Capital. The company’s valuation in this round was not disclosed.
This investment follows a previously undisclosed $25 million Series A funding round led by General Catalyst and brings Polymarket’s total raised funding to more than $70 million, including a $4 million seed round starting in 2020. . To support its next phase of growth, Polymarket has appointed Richard Jaycobs as Head of Market Expansion. He previously held executive positions at traditional financial companies, including President of Cantor Exchange and CEO of The Clearing Corporation.
Polymarket is recognized as a leading platform for building prediction markets on cryptocurrency infrastructure. In these markets, participants bet on the outcome of real-world events within a specified time period, ranging from sports games to political events. For example, the Polymarket market is currently evaluating whether the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will approve an Ethereum spot exchange-traded fund by May 31, and the “yes” stock is trading at 16 cents, giving the odds of approval 16%. This suggests that it is %.
These markets are viewed not just as gambling venues, but also as tools to gain a more accurate understanding of public sentiment and provide more reliable forecasts than traditional opinion polls and expert surveys. This is a view long advocated by economist Robin Hanson.
Despite a regulatory setback in 2022 that banned Polymarket from offering its services to U.S. residents following a Commodity Futures Trading Commission settlement, the platform continues to see significant betting activity. This year alone, $202 million was invested in various events, with more than $125 million of that invested in the presidential election. This exclusion from the US market contrasts with Kalshi, which is the only prediction market regulated by the CFTC. Kalshi faces potential regulatory challenges due to the CFTC’s recent proposal to ban election-related betting, a rule that would not affect Polymarket.
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