Polymarket has switched on instant bitcoin deposits over the Lightning Network, using Spark protocol technology. The upgrade cuts deposit settlement from 10-60 minutes to under one second with near-zero fees, as the prediction market platform faces rising competition from rival Kalshi.
Polymarket now credits bitcoin deposits in under one second, down from the 10-60 minutes traders faced before. The prediction market platform built the feature on Spark protocol technology routed through the Lightning Network, and it charges near-zero fees.
The change replaces a slower system Polymarket added in October 2025. That onchain method required 3-6 network confirmations before crediting accounts and carried higher minimum deposits because of bridging costs.
The Spark-powered deposits validate transactions at broadcast, checking for double-spend risk and fee adequacy rather than waiting on confirmations. As a result, Polymarket no longer manages confirmation thresholds or runs its own Lightning Network nodes, instead using a single SDK that handles onchain, Lightning, and stablecoin rails.
Deposits stay self-custodial. Wallets remain tied to users' own keys, so traders keep control until they execute a trade. Wallet providers including Breez, Xverse, and Cake are building on the protocol.
The speed upgrade lands as Polymarket fights competitive pressure from Kalshi, which posted $5.42 billion in April 2026 taker volume, surpassing Polymarket's $1.99 billion for the first time. Combined prediction market volume reached $8.6 billion in April 2026.
To reclaim share, Polymarket recently unveiled perpetual futures trading for U.S. markets. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino praised the deposit technology, calling it "A route to programmable Bitcoin over Lightning."
Source: Bitcoin.com
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