ICE to Invest $2B in Polymarket as Interest in Prediction Markets Heats Up

Crypto predictions platform Polymarket has secured a strategic investment from New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) owner, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). ICE also revealed other strategic plans with the platform amid plans to bring prediction markets to mainstream finance.

ICE To Invest Up To $2 Billion In Polymarket

The NYSE owner announced in a press release that it will invest up to $2 billion in the crypto predictions platform, reflecting a valuation of almost $8 billion prior to the investment and $9 billion post-investment. The firm also revealed that the $2 billion investment will be in cash.

Alongside the $2 billion investment, ICE stated that it will become a global distributor of Polymarket’s event-driven data, providing its customers with sentiment indicators on market-relevant topics. Furthermore, both firms have agreed to partner on future tokenization initiatives.

This comes as interest in prediction markets heats up, with the platform’s valuation steadily on the rise. Notably, Donald Trump Jr.’s VC firm had invested millions in the predictions platform back in August when the platform had a $1 billion valuation.

Commenting on this development, ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher remarked that their investment blends ICE with a “forward-thinking, revolutionary company pioneering change within the Decentralized Finance Space.” Sprecher added that there are opportunities across markets that ICE, together with Polymarket, can uniquely serve.

Meanwhile, Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan stated their partnership with ICE marks a major step in bringing prediction markets into the financial mainstream. He added that they are expanding the ways in which individuals and institutions use probabilities to understand and price the future.

TradingView data shows that the ICE stock is up almost 3% in premarket trading following the announcement of this strategic investment in the predictions platform. The stock is currently trading at around $164, up from yesterday’s closing price of $159.

Source: TradingView: ICE Daily Chart

Coplan Reflects On The Platform’s Journey

In an X post, the Polymarket CEO stated that the past two years have been surreal, as they have transitioned from a write-off to creating a category and watching their vision become a reality. Notably, the firm has seen a huge turnaround this year, with the DOJ ending its probe into the prediction platform.

Meanwhile, last month, the CFTC cleared the platform for its reentry into U.S. markets. Coplan was also among the panelists at the SEC-CFTC roundtable on crypto regulations harmonization, which was held on September 29. 

Polymarket has built a significant portion of its operations around the crypto space, including utilizing the USDC stablecoin as its primary token for betting. Meanwhile, the platform enables deposits in crypto assets such as Solana and Ethereum, and has recently also enabled Bitcoin deposits.

Coplan thanked the users, builders, and community members who have been with the platform since 2020, while declaring that the best is yet to come for the platform. He stated that there is so much they can build when one combines the force of ICE’s institutional scale and credibility with their consumers, cultural savvy, and distribution.

Source: https://coingape.com/nyse-owner-ice-to-invest-2b-in-polymarket/