The world’s largest prediction market platform is receiving a massive funding effort from a major financial exchange company.
Key Takeaways
- Polymarket receiving $2 billion in cash ups the company’s valuation to more than $8 billion.
- The investment from the New York Stock Exchange owner comes under a crypto-friendly Trump administration.
- The added funds are also right before Polymarket’s U.S. relaunch.
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced on Tuesday that it is investing $2 billion into Polymarket, helping the crypto-based trading company reach a valuation of more than $8 billion.
“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 C. Sprecher, ICE chair and CEO. “(Polymarket CEO and founder) Shayne Coplan has assembled a team at Polymarket to create a user-driven company relentlessly focused on product, building usage and distribution. There are opportunities across markets which ICE, together with Polymarket, can uniquely serve and we are excited about where this investment can take us.”
The investment will be made in cash, ICE says, and will not have a “material impact” on future financial returns or capital investment plans. Coplan called ICE the “gold standard for trusted financial infrastructure.”
Right time, right place
Coplan said the two companies will build modern investment tools during a time when the President Donald Trump administration appears to be crypto-friendly. His son, Donald Trump Jr., recently invested in Polymarket through investment firm 1789 Capita and was placed on the prediction company’s advisory board.
“Realizing the potential of new technologies, such as tokenization, will require collaboration between established market leaders and next-generation innovators,” Coplan said in a statement. “We couldn’t be more excited to build together.”
The influx of funding comes at a critical time as well. Polymarket, banned by federal regulators in 2022, is cleared to make a return to the U.S. this year. ICE’s investment will go a long way in helping the prediction platform’s credibility and marketing.
“The past two years have been surreal. Going from a write-off to creating a category, watching our vision become a reality,” Coplan said in a post on X. “The Polymarket origin story is funny because it's a rare case of the dream being identical to how things played out. If I learned one thing, it’s that bold ideas are everywhere, hidden in plain sight. It just takes someone crazy enough to spend their life willing it into existence. That’s entrepreneurship: willing things into existence.”
Markets on everything.
— Shayne Coplan 🦅 (@shayne_coplan) October 7, 2025
We’re proud to announce that $ICE, the owner of @NYSE and the largest exchange company in the world, is making a strategic investment of $2 billion into Polymarket, valuing us at $9 billion post-money.
Our partnership with ICE marks a major step in… pic.twitter.com/oShaglRx9p
Global gains
Founded in 2020, Polymarket offers contract purchasing on a variety of prediction market categories, including sports, pop culture, financial, economics, cryptocurrency, and politics, among others. Polymarket made global headlines during the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, when more than $2 billion was traded on the platform.
Polymarket said “institutions, individuals, and the media rely on these forecasts to report the news and better understand the future.” The company added that billions of dollars in prediction contracts have traded in 2025.
Controversial markets
Polymarket purchased a U.S. exchange and clearinghouse to become regulated again by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The prediction platform is still awaiting a U.S. relaunch, but it has already been promoting football markets, allowing users to purchase contracts on NFL markets.
Polymarket would be entering a controversial space.
Kalshi, another prominent prediction market that’s legal in all 50 U.S. states, has been offering NFL spreads, totals, and player props this season on its site and through its partnership with trading exchange Robinhood. This has caused many legal battles in states that already have licensed and regulated sportsbooks.
