Shayne Coplan, founder of Polymarket and recently named the youngest self-made billionaire at 27, suggested the possibility of a native POLY token for the prediction platform.
The post, brief and open-ended, was enough to fuel a wave of speculation across the industry, this list mirrored CoinMarketCap’s ranking of top cryptocurrencies by market cap, except for one small twist: XRP was missing, replaced by the mysterious “$POLY.”
A pattern of subtle hints
Some interpreted that as a hint that Polymarket’s future token could eventually join the upper tier of crypto assets, though others noted the remark might simply have been playful, based on data Coplan was resharing from analytics platform Kaito. Price tracking data from TradingView showed POLY listed alongside major cryptocurrencies, though discrepancies in ranking may have affected interpretation.
Polymarket has previously hinted at token-based rewards.
Following the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the Polymarket X account briefly posted “we predict future drops,” suggesting early consideration of incentives for users.
The post was deleted soon after, but rumors that the company might reward users or early participants with a token distribution still circulated.
Adding to that speculation, Polymarket’s parent company Blockratize filed an SEC document in September 2025 describing “other warrants” issued during its latest fundraising round. While the filing did not explicitly reference a token, the language resembled disclosures made by other crypto projects, such as dYdX, ahead of their own token launches.
Massive backing and valuation leap
Coplan also revealed two previously unannounced funding rounds earlier this year, including a $150 million raise led by Founders Fund at a $1.2 billion valuation. That came just before a major deal with the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, which agreed to invest up to $2 billion in Polymarket at a $9 billion post-money valuation.
At just 27, Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan has joined the billionaire ranks following a major investment in his platform, earning him recognition as the world’s youngest self-made billionaire by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
He founded Polymarket in June 2020 after a year of studying prediction markets. The platform enables users to place cryptocurrency-based bets on real-world events, including elections, sports results, and key economic indicators. According to ICE, Polymarket’s valuation before the deal stood near $8 billion, a stunning leap for a platform that only launched around 5 years ago.
Competing for the future of prediction markets
Polymarket’s rise comes amid renewed interest in on-chain prediction markets, a niche once dismissed as too regulatory-grey to scale. In September, data from Coindesk showed that rival Kalshi briefly surpassed Polymarket in trading volume, capturing about 62% of sector activity thanks to a surge in U.S. regulatory approval and its partnership with Robinhood Markets.
That competition has sparked speculation that a token launch could help Polymarket re-energize growth, particularly by incentivizing traders, deepening liquidity, and extending reach beyond its existing crypto-native audience.
Its markets range from political elections and sports outcomes to macroeconomic data and pop-culture events, a reflection of how decentralized prediction tools are inching toward mainstream recognition.
Oleksii Shumak
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