DeFi protocol Drift has launched a prediction market known as BET on the Solana blockchain, in line with an Aug. 19 assertion.
Drift Protocol co-founder Cindy Leow likened BET’s prediction market to perpetual buying and selling. She defined that, simply as perpetual merchants guess on potential value modifications in crypto, prediction markets enable for monetary stakes within the outcomes of real-world occasions.
She acknowledged:
“Taking actual occasions into permissionless financialization opens up the door to guess on all the things from making a hyperlocalized guess with a number of pals to attempting to foretell the end result of a US presidential election.”
BET options
BET operates equally to Polymarket, permitting customers to buy YES or NO shares on an occasion just like the upcoming US presidential election.
Nevertheless, the Solana-based platform stands out by permitting customers to make use of over 30 cryptos — together with USDC and SOL, amongst others — as collateral. Customers additionally earn a yield on their belongings earlier than the occasion’s end result is set.
Moreover, BET provides customers the flexibility to hedge their predictions with “structured bets.” This function permits them to take a protracted place within the prediction market whereas shorting Bitcoin. The platform additionally incorporates a rewards system known as FUEL, which is designed to spice up buying and selling exercise and incentivize person engagement.
Whereas BET is initially targeted on the US elections, plans are underway to broaden into different areas, similar to Components 1 and different crypto and cultural occasions.
Prediction markets’ reputation
Decentralized prediction markets have surged in reputation this yr because of Polymarket’s success. These platforms enable customers to guess on occasions, starting from sports activities outcomes to geopolitical incidents.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has notably praised prediction markets as one of many main social epistemic applied sciences of the 2020s. He mentioned:
“[These markets are] truth-seeking and democratic, constructed round open public participation quite than pre-selected elites.”
Nevertheless, the market’s rising reputation has drawn regulatory scrutiny. The US Commodities Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC) and lawmakers like Senator Elizabeth Warren have expressed issues in regards to the impression of those bets on public curiosity and known as for his or her restrictions.
Conversely, important gamers within the crypto trade, similar to Coinbase and Gemini, oppose these regulatory strikes, arguing that they’re economically flawed.