Robinhood Taps Crypto.com, Backs $5B Prediction Market Spin-Out
Robinhood is making a massive push into event contracts. According to Decrypt, the retail brokerage has taken an equity stake in Crypto.com to tap the exchange to power its rapidly growing prediction markets. The multi-year deal establishes a new entity, OG.com, as the infrastructure and clearing engine behind the operation.
The Defiant reports that Robinhood began routing a selection of football event contracts to Crypto.com's CFTC-regulated exchange on Tuesday. As part of the arrangement, Robinhood holds stakes in both Crypto.com and OG.com, the latter of which is being spun out at a massive $5 billion valuation.
Polymarket Expands with 20x Perps Amid Fed Rate Speculation
As prediction platforms tracked by predictionmarketstools.com continue to expand their product suites, Polymarket has launched 67 perpetual futures contracts covering stocks, crypto, indices, and commodities with up to 20x leverage. Order placement for these perpetuals remains strictly blocked for users in the United States.
On the macro front, prediction market traders are actively reacting to economic data. After the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 162,000 August jobs, Polymarket traders rapidly shifted the odds of a quarter-point September Federal Reserve rate increase from 39.5 cents to the majority outcome within 15 minutes. This jobs data also knocked Bitcoin off the $81,000 mark, falling $1,430 in just five minutes, while altcoins saw a rotation with Polkadot surging 16.7% on Tuesday to lead older Layer-1 networks.
Pop Culture and Sports Markets Heat Up
Beyond traditional finance and crypto, retail traders are flocking to entertainment and sports contracts. Polymarket's featured markets currently highlight live ATP tennis action, specifically the B. Shelton vs. C. Alcaraz matchup. Meanwhile, competitor Kalshi is leaning heavily into pop culture and politics; according to the Kalshi News blog, traders are currently pricing odds on the release of Grand Theft Auto VI, the next James Bond actor, and Donald Trump's press secretary search.