Polymarket has raised new funding led by 1789 Capital at a $21 billion valuation, up from roughly $300 million about a year ago. The jump follows a 2025 US regulatory license from the CFTC and growing institutional backing, including from Intercontinental Exchange.
Polymarket, the crypto-native prediction market that became a household name during the 2024 US presidential election, is now valued at $21 billion following a funding round led by 1789 Capital. The platform was worth roughly $300 million not long ago.
From regulatory limbo to $21 billion
1789 Capital, the venture firm co-founded by Omeed Malik and Chris Buskirk, first invested in Polymarket in August 2025, when the platform carried a post-money valuation of $1.2 billion. That was already a jump from the roughly $300 million figure it had been pegged at earlier.
By October 2025, the Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, participated in a round that valued Polymarket at approximately $9 billion. By April 2026, that figure had climbed to somewhere between $14 billion and $15 billion.
Now the platform is raising at a $21 billion valuation, with 1789 Capital leading the charge. The firm counts Donald Trump Jr. as a strategic adviser. Cumulatively, Polymarket has raised over $2 billion across its various funding rounds, and ICE alone has committed up to $2 billion to the platform.
What changed: the CFTC factor
Polymarket previously operated in a regulatory gray zone in the United States, having settled with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and effectively being barred from serving US users for a period. That changed when the CFTC granted Polymarket a US operating license in 2025. The regulatory green light removed legal risk, unlocked a new addressable market, and gave institutional investors the comfort they needed to write large checks.
Prediction markets go mainstream
During the 2024 election cycle, Polymarket's odds became a real-time counterpoint to traditional polling, frequently cited by major news outlets and political analysts. ICE's involvement is telling: its willingness to commit billions to a prediction market platform signals that the category has crossed a threshold from experimental to investable.
The platform runs on Polygon, an Ethereum layer-2 network, and uses USDC for settlements. Market observers have been watching for signals that Polymarket is moving toward an IPO as a potential liquidity event.
Source: Crypto Briefing
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