Founded in 2020 by Shayne Coplan, Polymarket is the largest prediction market in the world by trading volume. It is built on the Polygon blockchain and settled in USDC, giving every position full on-chain transparency and effectively zero trading fees — a combination that produces deep liquidity and tight pricing on major events.
Polymarket rose to global prominence during the 2024 U.S. election cycle and drew an investment of up to $2 billion from Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of the NYSE. After being blocked from U.S. users, it re-entered the market in 2026 by acquiring the CFTC-registered exchange QCEX. The regulated Polymarket US is still far smaller than Polymarket International, which ran roughly $9 billion in monthly volume in early 2026.
For crypto-comfortable traders chasing the deepest liquidity and lowest cost, Polymarket is the default. The main caveats are that the U.S.-regulated version is still rolling out and the full experience assumes familiarity with wallets and USDC.