Polymarket tops $1B in betting volume amid US election hype

Crypto betting platform Polymarket has surpassed $1 billion in trading volume, with more than one-third of the volume brought on by wagers in just the last thirty days. 

Polymarket witnessed $343 million in betting volume as of July 30, a significant step up from $111 million in June and $63 million in May, according to data from Dune Analytics.

Fevered speculation over the United States presidential election has been the primary driver of the record volume.  

To date, over $429 million has been wagered on which presidential candidate will clinch an election victory on Nov. 4, with Donald Trump still commanding a strong lead at 60% odds.

Vice President Kamala Harris has closed the gap on Trump, moving from a 1% chance to 38% following Biden’s sudden move to drop out of the race.

While Polymarket has been used primarily for speculating on the outcome of political events, the platform also features prediction markets for crypto, sports, business, and most recently, the 2024 Olympic games.

On May 14, Polymarket closed a $70 million Series B funding round led by Peter Thiel’s Founder Fund which also included contributions from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

The betting market recently partnered with payments platform MoonPay on July 24, enabling debit and credit card payments in a bid to make its onboarding process easier, particularly for users outside of crypto.

In a bid to capitalize further on the growing financial speculation of US politics, Polymarket brought on election analyst and statistician Nate Silver as an adviser on July 16.

Despite being used almost exclusively for US-based events, Polymarket is unavailable to American users.