According to CoinDesk, decentralized betting platform Polymarket experienced a significant increase in trading volume, reaching $5.7 million, following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approval of several spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Wednesday. This surge is a stark contrast to December's daily average of $300,000 and even surpassed leading NFT marketplace OpenSea, which registered a trading volume of $3.9 million. Venture capital firm 1confirmation's Richard Chen highlighted the success of prediction markets like Polymarket in the wake of the Bitcoin ETF approval.
Since its debut in 2020, Polymarket has allowed investors to bet on the outcome of binary events, such as the spot ETF decision. Last month, the platform listed a contract, 'Bitcoin ETF approved by Jan 15,' which expired on Wednesday with the SEC greenlighting ETFs. Traders wagered more than $12 million throughout the contract's lifetime, with some participants buying the 'No' side shares as a hedge against potential rejection. Activity picked up sharply ahead of Wednesday's SEC decision on ETFs. Other key performance metrics have also increased with volumes, as the number of active users on the platform surged to 1,258 on Wednesday, and the number of monthly active users reached 2,754, the highest since April 2022.