Polymarket Eyes $50M Funding amid US Election Buzz

Coinspeaker
Polymarket Eyes $50M Funding amid US Election Buzz

Crypto prediction market platform Polymarket is reportedly aiming to raise $50 million in fresh funding amid the ongoing buzz around U.S. election betting. According to a report, the New York-based company, which has emerged as a leader in the decentralized prediction market space, is also considering issuing its own token as part of this strategic expansion.

Unnamed sources cited in the article reveal that Polymarket’s proposed token would allow users to verify the outcomes of real-world events, further integrating blockchain technology into its betting platform.

Participants in the forthcoming investment round might be offered warrants, giving them the option to acquire the token if Polymarket moves forward with its issuance strategy. Nonetheless, it is still uncertain whether this token will be added to the UMA Protocol or will substitute it. Notably, Polymarket uses the protocol’s UMA token for resolving conflicts via community voting.

Meanwhile, despite the potential for disruption, UMA’s token saw a slight uptick following the report. As of writing, the token is trading at around $2.41, up by around 1.3% in the past 24 hours.

This year has brought immense success for Polymarket. In May, the platform revealed it had secured $70 million in funding across two rounds.

A key driver of Polymarket’s explosive growth has been the U.S. presidential election, scheduled for November 2024. The platform has over $993 million in bets placed on the “Presidential Election Winner 2024” market and an additional $223 million on the “Popular Vote Winner 2024” market.

Notably, bets on Polymarket are processed using smart contracts on the Polygon network and finalized in Circle’s USDC USDC $1.00 24h volatility: 0.0% Market cap: $35.90 B Vol. 24h: $6.33 B , which maintains a one-to-one value with the U.S. dollar.

Rostin Benham, the head of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), recently raised alarms about overseas platforms such as Polymarket, which lets Americans bet on election outcomes. The regulator noted instances of attempted market manipulation on prediction markets, including a case involving bets on Vice President Kamala Harris winning the 2024 election.

In a separate case, Polymarket settled with the CFTC in 2022, paying a $1.4 million fine for offering over 900 unregistered event-based binary options markets.

Meanwhile, Kalshi, a regulated prediction market that operates with the oversight of the CFTC, has faced legal challenges with the regulator over listing election-related contracts. The regulator is also working on a proposed rule that could ban such contracts, potentially pushing election betting regulation to individual states.

Polymarket’s current valuation has not been disclosed, and it is unclear whether the reported $50 million round investors will receive equity or just token warrants.next

Polymarket Eyes $50M Funding amid US Election Buzz