Polymarket Betting to Get Expensive? CEO Shayne Coplan Considers Charging Commissions

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Ruholamin Haqshanas

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Ruholamin Haqshanas

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Ruholamin Haqshanas is a contributing crypto writer for CryptoNews. He is a crypto and finance journalist with over four years of experience. Ruholamin has been featured in several high-profile crypto...

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July 31, 2024

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Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan has hinted at the potential introduction of commission fees to boost the company’s revenue.

In a recent interview with Forbes, Coplan said Polymarket is currently focused on expanding its marketplace and improving user experience.

However, he said that the company might explore different monetization strategies, including the addition of platform fees, to boost growth.

Polymarket Sees Surge in Trading Volume

Launched in 2020, Polymarket operates as a decentralized prediction market platform where users bet on the outcomes of real-world events using cryptocurrencies.

Users engage in betting on various events, such as the results of the upcoming United States presidential election in November 2024.

The platform uses the USDC stablecoin, allowing participants to buy and sell shares in forecasts related to the likelihood of future events.

Additionally, Polymarket offers betting opportunities within the crypto industry, enabling users to predict future prices of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Polymarket has recently achieved record-breaking trading volumes.

As interest in the US election grows, the platform reached $1 billion in monthly trading volume for the first time, with $343 million recorded in July alone.

This marks a significant increase of over 200% from the $111 million in June and more than 440% compared to $63 million in May 2024.

Despite these impressive trading volumes, Polymarket has struggled with generating sufficient revenue, as highlighted in the Forbes report.

The platform has successfully raised $70 million across two funding rounds, including a $45 million Series B round with participation from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

Furthermore, in an effort to streamline the onboarding process, especially for non-crypto users, Polymarket partnered with payments platform MoonPay on July 24, allowing for debit and credit card payments.

“Prediction markets are the purest technological manifestation of liberal democracy,” Yuga Cohler, an engineering lead at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, wrote in a recent post on X.

“They take free markets and free speech as inputs and output truth. In an age when centralized control of information is a systemic risk, prediction markets offer a way of cutting through misleading narratives and viewing the unvarnished truth.”

.@Polymarket's astronomical success is the most important story in crypto right now, but it's so obvious that we are ignoring it, when we should be screaming it from the rooftops.

Prediction markets are the purest technological manifestation of liberal democracy. They take free… pic.twitter.com/XlubHYDicq

— yuga.eth 🛡 (@yugacohler) June 30, 2024

Over $429M Wagered on Outcome of Presidential Election

The surge in popularity of Polymarket is primarily driven by speculation surrounding the United States presidential election.

To date, more than $429 million has been wagered on the outcome of the November 4 presidential election, with Donald Trump leading the bets at 60% odds.

Vice President Kamala Harris has seen her odds improve significantly from 1% to 38% following President Biden’s unexpected withdrawal from the race.

While political events have been the main focus for Polymarket users, the platform also offers prediction markets in areas such as cryptocurrency, sports, business, and the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games.