NYSE Parent Invests $2 Billion in Polymarket at $9 Billion Valuation

The deal values the crypto-based prediction market at $9 billion, marking one of the largest investments bridging traditional finance and decentralized markets.

The all-cash investment reflects an $8 billion pre-money valuation, with ICE paying up to $2 billion for its stake in the platform. ICE shares rose over 1% following the announcement, with premarket trading showing gains above 3%.

What This Partnership Means

Beyond the money, this deal creates a strategic alliance between Wall Street’s largest exchange operator and a four-year-old crypto startup. ICE will distribute Polymarket’s event-driven data to its institutional customers worldwide, providing sentiment indicators on topics relevant to financial markets.

The companies also plan to work together on tokenization initiatives—putting traditional financial assets into blockchain form. Jeffrey Sprecher, ICE’s Chairman and CEO, said the 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.”

Source: @Polymarket

Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan called the partnership “a major step in bringing prediction markets into the financial mainstream.” He added that realizing the potential of new technologies like tokenization requires collaboration between established market leaders and next-generation innovators.

Polymarket’s Explosive Growth

The valuation jump shows just how fast Polymarket has grown. In June 2025, the company raised $200 million at a $1 billion valuation led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. Just four months later, the company’s value increased ninefold.

Polymarket lets users buy and sell shares on future events—from elections to sports games to crypto prices. All trades happen peer-to-peer through smart contracts on blockchain technology. The platform gained widespread attention during the 2024 presidential election, when it correctly predicted Donald Trump’s victory while many traditional polls showed different results.

Trading volume peaked at nearly $400 million the day after the November 2024 election. Users made about $6 billion in predictions during the first half of 2025 alone. Daily volume currently sits between $40 million and $80 million.

The Road Back to America

Polymarket’s journey to this investment involved clearing major regulatory hurdles. In 2022, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission fined the company $1.4 million for operating without proper registration and ordered it to block American users.

The situation got more intense in November 2024 when FBI agents raided CEO Shayne Coplan’s New York apartment, taking his phone and electronic devices. Federal investigators were checking whether the platform allowed U.S. users despite the 2022 ban.

Everything changed in 2025. In July, both the Justice Department and CFTC dropped their investigations without filing charges. That same month, Polymarket bought QCEX—a CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange—for $112 million.

In September, the CFTC issued a no-action letter that cleared Polymarket to operate in the United States. The platform can now legally serve American customers through its newly acquired exchange license.

Political Winds Shifting

The timing aligns with major political changes. The Biden administration actively opposed prediction market platforms, trying to shut down both sports and political betting on derivatives exchanges. The Trump administration has taken a friendlier approach to crypto companies and prediction markets.

In August 2025, Polymarket added Donald Trump Jr. to its advisory board after receiving investment from 1789 Capital, where he serves as a partner. Trump Jr. said “Polymarket is the largest prediction market in the world, and the US needs access to this important platform.”

Competition Heats Up

Polymarket isn’t alone in attracting investor attention. Its main competitor Kalshi raised $185 million at a $2 billion valuation in June 2025. Reports now suggest Kalshi is discussing a new funding round that would value it at nearly $5 billion.

Other major players are entering the space. Robinhood launched prediction markets in March 2025 and has already processed over 4 billion event contracts. CME Group, the largest U.S. derivatives exchange, partnered with FanDuel to offer prediction contracts later this year.

The rapid expansion shows investors believe prediction markets will become a standard part of the financial system. These platforms aggregate crowd wisdom by having participants put money behind their beliefs about future events. Supporters argue this creates more accurate forecasts than traditional polls or expert predictions.

ICE plans to discuss the Polymarket investment in more detail during its third-quarter earnings call on October 30, 2025.

The Big Picture

This deal signals that prediction markets are moving from the crypto fringe to mainstream finance. When the world’s largest stock exchange operator invests $2 billion in a blockchain-based betting platform, it shows these markets have gained legitimacy.

The partnership could reshape how institutions use prediction data. Financial firms may start incorporating crowd-sourced probability estimates into their trading strategies and risk models. Polymarket’s data will now flow through ICE’s networks to thousands of institutional investors globally.

Whether prediction markets will replace traditional forecasting methods remains unclear. But with billions in venture capital flowing into the sector and major exchanges getting involved, these platforms are becoming a permanent part of the financial landscape.