Crypto Biz: US elections crown Polymarket

Donald Trump may have won the race for the White House, but the crypto market has its own champion: Polymarket — a decentralized prediction market platform running on the Polygon blockchain. 

Founded just four years ago, the platform has amassed over $3.2 billion in total bets tied to the United States election results, with $239.5 million placed on Election Day alone.

Behind Polymarket is 26-year-old Shayne Coplan, CEO and board member, according to Pitchbook. Some key election developments predicted by traders on Polymarket included President Joe Biden dropping out of the contest, among other geopolitical developments. 

The company has attracted significant venture capital over the past few months, raising $70 million across two funding rounds backed by high-profile investors such as Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. 

Over the past 30 days, betting volume on the platform has surged to $5.3 billion, largely driven by politics-related polls. The largest Trump-betting account on Polymarket, for instance, earned more than $20.4 million in profits after AP called the election.

In October, traders on the platform generated more than $111,000 in fees for the Polygon network, while in the first days of November, $40,613 was collected. Although the election may be over, traders seem eager to stick with the betting trend. 

Polymarket’s growth has also attracted the regulator’s attention. In France, the National Gaming Authority of France — the Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ) — is reportedly investigating its operation and compliance with French gambling laws, with a potential ban on the platform in the works.

This week’s Crypto Biz also features BlacRock’s IBIT hitting $1B volume, Meta’s Llama joining the US military, Bitcoin miners posting production records in October and VanEck listing PYTH ETN.

BlackRock Bitcoin ETF sees $1B volume in first minutes of post-election trading

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) experienced a surge in trading activity on Nov. 6, with nearly $1.1 billion in volume within the first 20 minutes of post-election trading. Analysts anticipate that Bitcoin’s price may continue to rise under Donald Trump’s new administration, with projections suggesting it may reach $100,000 by the time he is inaugurated for his second term on Jan. 20. Trump has expressed intentions to position the US as “the crypto capital of the world,” contrasting with the previous administration’s regulatory approach toward the crypto industry.

Meta opens Llama AI model up to US military

Social media and tech firm Meta has opened up its artificial intelligence model Llama to the United States military and defense contractors for national security purposes. Llama will be used to streamline complicated logistics and planning, track terrorist financing and strengthen America’s cyber defenses, Meta president of global affairs Nick Clegg wrote in a Nov. 4 statement. The firm will be partnering with Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, Oracle, Palantir and other tech heavyweights to offer full-scale services to the US government.

Marathon, Riot record highest monthly BTC production since April halving

Bitcoin miners Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms reported record monthly production since the April halving, reflecting a strong recovery in the sector. Marathon produced 717 Bitcoin ($48.8 million) in October, aided by a 14% increase in its hashrate, surpassing 40 exahashes per second, and higher transaction fees contributing 5% of its total production. Similarly, Riot mined 505 Bitcoin ($34.4 million) in October, a 22.6% increase from the previous month, driven by an increase in its hashrate to 29.4 EH/s following the installation of new MicroBT miners.

VanEck lists PYTH ETN in Europe

VanEck has listed an exchange-traded note (ETN) in Europe tracking the performance of the Pyth Network’s native token, PYTH, the asset manager said on Nov. 5. The VanEck Pyth ETN will trade on Euronext Amsterdam and Euronext Paris and will be available to investors in 15 European countries, including Germany, France, Norway and Switzerland. The Pyth Network is a decentralized oracle protocol designed to enable smart contracts to interact with offchain data and communicate with other blockchain networks. PYTH has a fully diluted market capitalization of about $3.4 billion.

Before you go: Wall Street investors are still largely unaware of Ethereum’s potential, similar to Amazon in the early 1990s before it became a $2 trillion tech giant, according to a research analyst at crypto asset manager 21Shares.

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