NYSE Owner ICE Pours Another $600 Million Into Polymarket

Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, on Friday announced a new $600 million direct cash investment in Polymarket, completing the exchange operator’s structured investment arrangement with the prediction market platform.

The investment is part of a broader equity capital fundraise by Polymarket, according to a press release from ICE. The company also expects to purchase up to $40 million in Polymarket securities from existing holders, which would close out its obligations under the deal first announced in October 2025. The valuation of Friday’s investment is expected to be disclosed after Polymarket completes its fundraising.

ICE made an initial $1 billion direct investment in Polymarket at that time, in what was the largest single investment ever made in a prediction market company. That deal valued Polymarket at roughly $8 billion pre-investment and established ICE as a global distributor of Polymarket’s event-driven data.

ICE’s interest in Polymarket extends beyond a passive equity stake. In February, ICE launched the Polymarket Signals and Sentiment Tool, a product that normalizes real-time and historical prediction market data into structured feeds for institutional traders. The tool packages Polymarket’s crowd-sourced probability assessments as market signals alongside traditional financial instruments.

Prediction Market Arms Race

The capital injection comes amid an unprecedented wave of institutional investment into prediction markets. Rival platform Kalshi raised approximately $1 billion at a $22 billion valuation earlier this month in a round led by Coatue Management. Polymarket is reportedly targeting a valuation of around $20 billion in its current round, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Prediction market monthly volumes have grown 130-fold since early 2024, making it one of the fastest-growing categories in finance. Open interest across platforms crossed $1 billion for the first time in February.

Regulatory Crosswinds

The investment arrives against a complex regulatory backdrop. The CFTC recently issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking signaling its intent to build a comprehensive regulatory framework for prediction markets. Meanwhile, some lawmakers have introduced legislation that would block prediction markets from offering contracts on war and sports outcomes.

At the state level, regulators continue to challenge the industry — Arizona’s attorney general recently filed criminal charges against Kalshi, alleging it operates an illegal gambling business in the state.

Still, institutional capital appears undeterred by the regulatory uncertainty. For ICE, the completion of its nearly $2 billion investment arrangement signals that one of the world’s largest market infrastructure operators views prediction markets not as a passing novelty but as a category that may eventually sit alongside equities, futures, and fixed income.

This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.