DeFi protocol Drift has launched a prediction market referred to as BET on the Solana blockchain, in accordance 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 wager on potential value adjustments in crypto, prediction markets enable for monetary stakes within the outcomes of real-world occasions.
She said:
“Taking actual occasions into permissionless financialization opens up the door to wager on all the pieces from making a hyperlocalized wager with just a few buddies 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 property earlier than the occasion’s end result is set.
Moreover, BET offers customers the flexibility to hedge their predictions with “structured bets.” This characteristic permits them to take a protracted place within the prediction market whereas shorting Bitcoin. The platform additionally incorporates a rewards system referred to as FUEL, which is designed to spice up buying and selling exercise and incentivize consumer engagement.
Whereas BET is initially centered on the US elections, plans are underway to increase into different areas, equivalent to System 1 and different crypto and cultural occasions.
Prediction markets’ reputation
Decentralized prediction markets have surged in reputation this yr due to Polymarket’s success. These platforms enable customers to wager 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 fairly 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 concerning the affect of those bets on public curiosity and referred to as for his or her restrictions.
Conversely, crucial gamers within the crypto trade, equivalent to Coinbase and Gemini, oppose these regulatory strikes, arguing that they’re economically flawed.
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