Exchange giant Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) is making a US$2-billion all-cash investment in prediction market Polymarket.
As part of the deal, which values Polymarket at US$8 billion, ICE will distribute event-based data from the prediction market to institutional investors, providing them with novel sentiment indicators.
Polymarket facilitates bets on a wide range of events — including business, politics, cultural events and sports — allowing the buying and selling of shares on potential outcomes, with every trade matched peer-to-peer through smart contracts.
“Our investment blends ICE, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, which was founded in 1792, with a forward-thinking, revolutionary company pioneering change within the decentralized finance space,” said Jeffrey Sprecher, chair and chief executive officer of ICE, in a release.
“There are opportunities across markets which ICE, together with Polymarket, can uniquely serve, and we are excited about where this investment can take us,” he added.
ICE and Polymarket said they have also agreed to partner on future tokenization initiatives.
“Our partnership with ICE marks a major step in bringing prediction markets into the financial mainstream,” said Shayne Coplan, founder and CEO of Polymarket.
“By combining ICE’s institutional scale and credibility with Polymarket’s consumer savvy, we will be able to deliver world-class products for the modern investor. Realizing the potential of new technologies, such as tokenization, will require collaboration between established market leaders and next-generation innovators,” he added.