Why did the NYSE parent company bet $2 billion on the prediction market Polymarket?

Author: 1912212.eth, Foresight News

Original Title: $2 Billion Financing, 1.3 Million Traders, Polymarket is Making History

Recently, a massive financing round has shaken the entire crypto community. Polymarket has confirmed that Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, will make a strategic investment of $2 billion, bringing its post-investment valuation to $9 billion. This is one of the largest financing amounts received by a crypto project in recent years, and its nearly $10 billion valuation has pushed the potential and popularity of prediction markets to center stage.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE): The World’s Fourth Largest Exchange Group

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is a global leader in financial infrastructure and data services, and is the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). ICE was founded in May 2000 by Jeffrey C. Sprecher in Atlanta, USA, initially focusing on electronic trading of energy derivatives. In 2007, it acquired the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT), expanding into agricultural and metal futures.

In 2013, ICE acquired NYSE Euronext for $8.2 billion, gaining ownership of the New York Stock Exchange and expanding its business into equities and options trading, becoming the world’s first exchange group to simultaneously control both commodities and equities trading.

ICE’s global business layout is extensive, operating 14 exchanges worldwide, including ICE Futures Europe (London), ICE Futures U.S. (New York), ICE Futures Singapore (Singapore), covering energy, agricultural products, metals, and other commodity markets. Through NYSE and Liffe, it is also involved in equities and equity index futures trading. In addition, it provides clearing, data services, and mortgage services.

As of now, ICE’s market capitalization exceeds $50 billion, ranking it as the world’s fourth largest exchange group.

Polymarket Returns to the United States

According to Decrypt, prediction market Polymarket is about to reopen to U.S. users, nearly four years after it was effectively banned by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Polymarket previously acquired CFTC-licensed trading platform QCX LLC for $112 million and has begun self-certifying event contracts, including those for sports and election markets.

The crypto market has become an important part of the global financial markets. As a global leader in financial infrastructure, ICE’s investment in Polymarket marks an important move into the crypto prediction market.

ICE can leverage its experience and resources from traditional financial markets to the crypto market, promoting the deep integration of prediction markets and crypto technology, thereby opening up new business areas and revenue streams.

Over 1 Million Traders, Total Trading Volume Exceeds $18.9 Billion

Since Polymarket made headlines during last year’s U.S. presidential election, both its capital and user numbers have surged dramatically. Although the hype has since cooled, its trading volume has remained at a strong level.

According to the latest data from tokentermina, its total trading volume has risen to $18.9 billion, far ahead of its competitor Kalshi.

Its TVL has risen to $169.2 million, and trading volume in the past 30 days has reached $1.5 billion, an increase of 42.2%.

Its monthly active users have also seen a significant increase. The current number of active users has reached 263,800, up 26.8% month-on-month.

According to the latest data from Polymarketanalytics, its total number of traders is 1,349,740, and the number of prediction markets is 46,995. Although Polymarket leads significantly in total trading volume, it lags behind Kalshi in total markets and total open interest.

Token Issuance Rumors

As early as after the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Polymarket, in order to retain capital, hinted on its official website that there might be a future token airdrop.

According to the SEC EDGAR database, Polymarket’s operating entity Blockratize Inc. submitted a Form D document on August 1, 2025, which mentioned other warrants or other rights terms. Such wording is often seen as a signal for future token issuance.

Since the legal status of tokens in the U.S. remains unclear, companies usually cannot directly mention token issuance plans in SEC documents, so they use terms like “warrants” to reserve the right for investors to receive tokens in the future. This has become a common practice for crypto companies conducting traditional equity financing.

On October 8, Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan, when retweeting, listed the token symbol POLY after BTC, ETH, BNB, and SOL, hinting that Polymarket’s token name might be POLY. However, the issuance date remains unknown.