Overview

Polymarket is a decentralized prediction market platform built on the Polygon blockchain. Users buy and sell shares in binary outcome contracts on politics, sports, crypto, entertainment, and current events; contracts settle to $1.00 if the outcome resolves true and $0.00 if it resolves false.

What Polymarket actually is

Polymarket runs on smart contracts that hold USDC collateral and pay out automatically once an event resolves. Resolution is handled by UMA's Optimistic Oracle, and trading is peer-to-peer through an on-chain order book. There is no house — every trade has a counterparty.

Who it's built for

Users interested in probabilistic forecasting, event trading, and information markets — particularly those already comfortable holding stablecoins and interacting with an Ethereum-compatible wallet.

Regulation & safety

Polymarket returned to serving US users in 2025 after acquiring QCX LLC, a CFTC-registered Designated Contract Market and Derivatives Clearing Organization. Contracts offered to US users are structured as event-based derivatives cleared through the CFTC-regulated venue.