Report: The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange may invest again in Polymarket, valued at

Intercontinental Exchange may add to Polymarket: Consider participating in a new round of financing after holding a US$1.64 billion stake

Intercontinental Exchange has hinted that it may invest more money in its next round of financing after accumulating a US$1.64 billion stake in prediction market platform Polymarket.

Core Summary

·As of March, ICE already holds US$1.64 billion in Polymarket and may invest again.
· Polymarket is seeking a new round of financing at a valuation of more than US$20 billion.
·Jeff Sprecher, CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, said that the core of investment relationships lies in the exchange of information and professional knowledge.
·Sprecher pointed out that perpetual contracts do not meet the needs of ICE's core hedging customer base.

According to reports, Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeff Sprecher said that the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange would consider participating if its participation could help Polymarket complete this round of financing. "We will consider it," Sprecher said in an interview. If our endorsement can help complete the financing, we are always interested in it."

ICE may join Polymarket in new funding round

Polymarket is reportedly seeking a new funding round at a valuation of more than $20 billion, which is more than double the company's October valuation. Reported that as the prediction market continues to expand in the fields of sports, politics, geopolitics and other event-based contracts, the platform continues to attract investor interest.

Intercontinental Exchange has participated in two rounds of financing from Polymarket, and the exchange operator's stake was reportedly worth US$1.64 billion as of March. Sprecher said the partnership was designed in part to allow the two companies to exchange information and expertise, rather than turning ICE into a regular investor in technology start-ups.

It is reported that ICE has previously invested an additional US$600 million in Polymarket as part of its previously announced investment commitment of up to US$2 billion. ICE said at the time that the investment was not expected to have a material impact on its financial results or capital return plans. "We are not actually a venture capital firm," said Sprecher. He described the investment in Polymarket as a relationship built around the "transfer of information and expertise."

Sprecher believes this distinction is critical to ICE's strategy because the company runs some of the world's largest financial exchanges and clearing businesses and has no intention of building a venture capital portfolio just because technology companies are attracting capital.

At the same time, Polymarket continues to add infrastructure to its forecast markets business. A report on Polymarket's acquisition of Brahma details its acquisition of the DeFi infrastructure startup after acquiring QCEX and Dome. Reported that these transactions bring U.S. regulatory access, developer infrastructure and on-chain execution capabilities to Polymarket's business.

Forecasting the market to attract more institutional capital

According to reports, since the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the prediction market has attracted more attention, with traders increasingly using "yes/no" contracts to speculate on outcomes ranging from elections and sporting events to geopolitical events. Investor funds followed closely. Polymarket is currently seeking financing at a valuation of more than $20 billion, while rival Kalshi has also completed a major financing round, with both companies vying for traders and distribution partners.

Robinhood Markets has become another major player in the field. In the same report, its CEO Vlad Tenev said the forecast market should continue to be subject to federal regulation through the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), rather than having state regulators go their own way. The issue has become increasingly important as multiple states try to apply their own rules to sports and election-related contracts. Some state authorities reportedly believe that certain contracts should fall under state gambling or gaming laws, while Prediction Markets Inc. maintains that federally regulated event contracts should fall under the jurisdiction of the CFTC.

A report on new North Carolina laws shows that the state is taking the path of federal regulation. Gov. Josh Stein signed legislation recognizing the CFTC's jurisdiction over the forecasting market and allowing federally registered platforms, including Kalshi and Polymarket, to operate in the state starting in 2027. The law also imposes a 6% state tax on transaction fee income generated by platforms.

State challenges continue, CFTC regulation battle still exists

Other states continue to challenge prediction market operators, leaving courts to consider how federal derivatives laws can be reconciled with state gambling powers. Tenev said he expected incident contracts to be a viable business even if the jurisdiction battle eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court and the court gave states more control over certain products. "I don't think the forecast market will disappear," Tenev said. He added that a legal ruling could draw the line and require companies such as Robinhood to adjust their products.

The controversy has generated different regulatory approaches across the United States. North Carolina explicitly recognizes federal regulation, while lawsuits and enforcement actions elsewhere have questioned sports-related contracts offered through federal regulatory platforms.

In addition to forecasting the market, the CFTC has also begun to allow new cryptocurrency derivatives to enter the regulated U.S. market. Kalshi has reportedly been cleared to launch the first regulated Bitcoin perpetual contract in the United States. At the same time, Coinbase received a no-objection letter allowing certain cryptocurrency perpetual contract products to use Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins as collateral. These approvals create another point of comparison between newer cryptocurrency trading products and traditional futures contracts offered on mature derivatives exchanges.

ICE remains cautious about perpetual contracts

Perpetual contracts became another focus of Sprecher's interview. Earlier, President Donald Trump said U.S. regulators are studying how to get Hyperliquid to enter the U.S. market in a fully compliant manner. Hyperliquid's most famous product is perpetual contracts, a leveraged derivative that allows traders to make non-maturity bets on the prices of cryptocurrencies and other assets. According to reports, this product category has gone beyond its long-standing cryptocurrency application scenarios, especially during periods of tension in Iran. Reported that during the closed period of traditional oil futures markets operated by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group and the Intercontinental Exchange, perpetual contracts have become one of the available methods for investors to trade oil exposure.

Sprecher said ICE is not currently actively pursuing such products because its core derivatives clients mainly use futures for hedging. Traditional futures contracts with different maturity dates can create a forward pricing curve that companies can use to manage future costs and prices, while perpetual contracts cannot form the same structure. "Our customer base is essentially a hedging customer base, and perpetual contracts do not create a forward pricing curve," Sprecher said. He believes the product is not suitable for the customers Intercontinental Exchange mainly serves, saying perpetual contracts are "essentially a speculative product" and "not suitable for our distribution channels or customer base."