News

Foresight News reported, according to Fortune magazine, that prediction market startups Kalshi and Polymarket are competing for market dominance. Although Kalshi currently attracts a large number of users in the US, covering multiple fields such as sports and politics, its valuation is $5 billion, while Polymarket's valuation is close to $9 billion, almost twice that of Kalshi. Polymarket's cryptocurrency background is considered an important reason for its high valuation. Kalshi is more advanced in terms of regulation, but Polymarket has been clearing trades on the Polygon Layer 2 network since its inception. Both companies have announced new rounds of financing; however, Kalshi faces competition from giants such as Robinhood and certain exchanges that are showing interest in the prediction market. Although Kalshi adopts a more rigorous approach to dispute resolution and ethical control, Polymarket is vague in contract approval and faces many challenges. Interestingly, the report states that Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan (now 27 years old) even participated in the Ethereum ICO while still in high school.

According to ChainCatcher, citing The Block, the prediction market continues to heat up, with Kalshi and Polymarket achieving a combined trading volume of $1.44 billions in September, setting a new historical record. Recently, both platforms announced the completion of new funding rounds: Polymarket raised $2 billions from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), bringing its valuation to $9 billions; Kalshi raised $300 millions at a $5 billions valuation. This round of financing has produced at least one new billionaire, with Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan becoming the youngest self-made billionaire. Data shows that in September, Kalshi's market share once rose to 60%, reversing the pattern dominated by Polymarket at the beginning of the year. The two platforms have significant differences in technical architecture: Kalshi operates off-chain, with data accessible only via API; Polymarket operates entirely on-chain, with all markets and positions publicly available for inquiry. Analysts believe that Kalshi's recent surge in trading volume is partly due to its partnership with Robinhood, which now allows users to directly participate in Kalshi's sports prediction market trading through its interface. This also marks the accelerated integration of prediction markets into the mainstream financial ecosystem.