210 Photos and videos
May 16
Hong Kong PM volume in 2025: US$64 billion. Up 200% YoY.
Then this week the SFC dropped the boom: trading on prediction markets "may be illegal" and you're "not protected under the SFO."
Here's the thing β HK volume didn't drop. It just went deeper underground.
A snapshot from this week's Asia community group chats:
ππ° Hong Kong: SFC warning, but no police action. Volume still pumping via VPN Polymarket Polygon front-end.
πΈπ¬ Singapore: GRA blocked Polymarket Jan 2025. Degens routing through Hyperliquid HIP-3 and Limitless on Base.
π―π΅ Japan: legally grey, but FSA hasn't moved. Active market on PolymarketJP-style wrappers.
π°π· Korea: zero domestic infra, but $UNI bot armies are massive on Polymarket Asia hours.
π¨π³ China: VPN-only, settled in USDT-TRC20, dominated by 2 OTC desks in Shenzhen.
πΉπΌ Taiwan: most active retail community on Discord, no native venue.
Total estimated Asia shadow volume: $1.2B weekly. That's bigger than Polymarket's GLOBAL number.
The arbitrage isn't going to a CFTC-approved venue. The arbitrage is to whoever builds the FIRST Asian-compliant PM rail with proper KYC, local stablecoin pairs, and HKMA/MAS sandbox cover.
Question for the Asia degens here: which exchange or licensed broker is closest to launching a real Asian PM product? Drop names. I'll compile a ranking thread next week.
#PredictionMarkets #Crypto #Asia
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May 16
Bonus data point you can quote: at current Asia shadow run-rate of $1.2B/week, a 1% take rate = $624M/year in fees walking out the door because no one has a compliant venue. That's the entire 2025 revenue of dYdX. Sitting there. Unclaimed.
Who's building this and where? Comments open.
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May 10
Polymarket Kalshi just crossed $150B in cumulative volume.
But the headline this morning isn't the volume.
It's that NPR confirmed campaign staffers are turning private polling data into personal paydays. Kalshi already banned candidates for betting on themselves. The "Wild West" framing officially landed.
Here's why this matters more than the $150B print:
β Prediction markets are now a price oracle for politics
β Insider info has the same value it had in 1929 equities β if you can trade on it
β Asia's regulators are watching every NPR cycle to draft their own rules
β Asian platforms (us included) had to pre-bake insider safeguards because the bans came faster
The Western platforms are scaling first.
Asian platforms are surviving first.
These are NOT the same playbook.
Honest question for the timeline: if the SEC banned ETF wrappers tomorrow, would prediction markets grow faster or slower in the US? I'm split.
#PredictionMarkets #Asia #Regulation
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May 10
Plot twist: Asian regulators may end up the strictest AND the most successful.
The bank-anchored stablecoin model β HKMA, MAS, JFSA β proved that strict clear beats loose ambiguous.
Same template fits prediction markets. Bet you it ships in 2026.
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May 7
Hyperliquid just declared war on Polymarket and Kalshi.
HIP-4 launched on mainnet this week. Within hours, they claimed to surpass Polymarket's volume on their Bitcoin up-or-down market.
The $24B prediction market just got its most dangerous challenger.
Hyperliquid is the most capital-efficient DEX in crypto. Its order book model, deep liquidity, and loyal trading community are now pointed directly at prediction markets. They're not building something new β they're weaponizing what already works.
Kalshi commands 62% market share. Sports = 72% of volume. Polymarket dominates crypto-native markets. Both have regulatory moats. Hyperliquid has neither β but it has the community.
The Asian crypto community driving massive Hyperliquid volume is deeply prediction-market native. Crypto price markets, BTC up/down, macro outcomes. These are the markets that get the most action.
My read: Hyperliquid won't beat Kalshi in sports. Won't beat Polymarket in long-tail political markets. But it will dominate crypto-native prediction markets. That's a massive slice of $24B.
Who wins the crypto-native prediction market: Hyperliquid, Polymarket, or a new challenger?
#PredictionMarkets #Hyperliquid #Polymarket
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May 7
Follow-up: the network effect question everyone's ignoring.
Hyperliquid's community = same traders who made it the #1 perps DEX. Already there. Already trust the protocol.
Polymarket's community = global event bettors, politically diverse.
Kalshi's community = US retail, sports-first.
Three totally different communities. Room for all three β serving different use cases.
Does a single dominant prediction market serve everyone better, or does community fragmentation = healthier ecosystem?
Reply: "one winner" or "healthy fragmentation." I read every reply.
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May 7
Hyperliquid just declared war on Polymarket and Kalshi.
HIP-4 launched on mainnet this week. Within hours, they claimed to surpass Polymarket's volume on their Bitcoin up-or-down market.
The $24B prediction market just got its most dangerous challenger.
Hyperliquid is the most capital-efficient DEX in crypto. Its order book model, deep liquidity, and loyal trading community are now pointed directly at prediction markets. They're not building something new β they're weaponizing what already works.
Kalshi commands 62% market share. Sports = 72% of volume. Polymarket dominates crypto-native markets. Both have regulatory moats. Hyperliquid has neither β but it has the community.
The Asian crypto community driving massive Hyperliquid volume is deeply prediction-market native. Crypto price markets, BTC up/down, macro outcomes. These are the markets that get the most action.
My read: Hyperliquid won't beat Kalshi in sports. Won't beat Polymarket in long-tail political markets. But it will dominate crypto-native prediction markets. That's a massive slice of $24B.
Who wins the crypto-native prediction market: Hyperliquid, Polymarket, or a new challenger?
#PredictionMarkets #Hyperliquid #Polymarket
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May 7
Follow-up: the network effect question everyone's ignoring.
Hyperliquid's community = same traders who made it the #1 perps DEX. Already there. Already trust the protocol.
Polymarket's community = global event bettors, politically diverse.
Kalshi's community = US retail, sports-first.
Three totally different communities. Which means there might be room for all three β serving different use cases.
Does a single dominant prediction market serve everyone better, or does community fragmentation = healthier ecosystem?
Reply: "one winner" or "healthy fragmentation." I read every reply.
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May 5
$30 million bet on Indian state elections via crypto prediction markets. Five simultaneous Polymarket markets. Tamil Nadu alone: $22M. West Bengal: $7M.
India's Satta Bazaar just went Web3 β and the numbers are staggering.
The 2026 Indian state election cycle generated 400% more prediction market volume than the 2024 general election. That's not incremental growth. That's a category arriving.
Tamil Nadu ($22M): Actor Vijay's TVK party leading in nearly 100 seats β defying 60 years of DMK/ADMK alternation. Polymarket priced this possibility at 34% while legacy polls said less than 10%. The market was right.
West Bengal ($7M): BJP vs TMC β Polymarket's odds shifted 3 days before results, reflecting real-time information that traditional media didn't capture.
India's PROGA 2025 technically classifies Polymarket as illegal online gaming. But the law hasn't been notified as enforceable. Constitutional challenge pending at Supreme Court.
Here's the question: when a prediction market prices political outcomes more accurately than polling firms charging $500K for surveys β who has the legitimacy problem?
Data or vibes. I know which one I'm betting on.
Agree that prediction markets are superior to polls, or do you think this is cherry-picking winners?
#PredictionMarkets #Polymarket #India #CryptoData
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May 5
The meta-story here: Polymarket is now trending more in Indian political media than Phalodi Satta Bazaar β the traditional election benchmark for decades. When crypto beats a century-old offline institution at its own game, that's the inflection point. What market would you want to see Polymarket open next?
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Apr 28
CFTC just sued New York. That's 4 states in the federal crosshairs now.
The prediction market preemption war is the most important regulatory fight in US crypto β and almost nobody is covering the real numbers.
Here's the full scorecard:
π’ States sued by CFTC: Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, New York (Apr 24)
π‘ States filing briefs AGAINST federal preemption: 37 attorneys general
π΄ Comment period closes: April 30, 2026 β 48 hours from now
And while regulators fight, the market moved anyway.
Kalshi launched perpetual futures for US users THIS WEEK. Perps β one of the biggest and riskiest product categories in crypto β now available inside a US-regulated prediction market exchange.
That's not speculation. That's product launch.
If CFTC wins the preemption argument: clean federal jurisdiction, institutional capital opens, prediction markets get treated as commodity instruments.
If 37 state AGs win: fragmented state-by-state gambling laws, platform restrictions, slower institutional adoption.
The Arizona federal judge's ruling is the leading indicator to watch.
48 hours until the comment deadline. If you have a view, submit it.
Federal preemption or state control β which outcome is actually better for market integrity?
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Apr 28
The irony: the states claiming to "protect citizens" from prediction markets are the same states where you can walk into a casino and bet on anything.
Prediction markets with CFTC oversight are arguably MORE regulated than sportsbooks in most of those states.
That asymmetry should inform the legal argument β and it will.
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Apr 27
Today in NYC, Kalshi is launching crypto perpetual futures under the codename "Timeless." No expiry date. BTC several other crypto pairs at launch. USD as initial collateral, stablecoins coming Q2.
Polymarket front-ran them last week with its own perp futures product on X.
This is the moment prediction markets stopped being event-binary and started being perpetual continuous derivatives.
Why that matters for Asian crypto:
The Binance-style perp playbook is the most dominant retail derivative format in the world β and the highest revenue line for every major Asian crypto exchange. Funding rates, leverage, 24/7 markets. Asian retail is already trained on this UX.
So when Kalshi ($11B) and Polymarket ($9B) both pivot from "binary outcome contract" to "perpetual market on outcomes," they are not opening a new product line.
They are entering the most contested liquidity arena in crypto. And they are doing it in a market β Asia β where the local exchanges already have full Binance-grade perp infra and 5 years of Asian retail trader habit.
Quick poll for the PredicXion community, two options only:
A) The U.S. CFTC-licensed prediction-market perps win Asian retail
B) The local Asian exchanges fork prediction-market perps within 6 months and win on liquidity
Reply A or B. Receipts saved for the year-end leaderboard.
#PredictionMarkets #AsianCrypto #Perps
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Apr 27
The case for A: Kalshi and Polymarket already own the prediction-market price discovery brand. "Timeless" is a strong product name. CFTC licensing matters to institutional Asian flow (Singapore family offices, Japan post-FIEA).
The case for B: Asian retail does not pay a premium for U.S. licensing. Liquidity wins, and a Bitget or OKX fork would have the deeper book inside three weeks.
My personal lean is B for retail, A for institutional. The split is the actual story.
Which side gets to $1B daily volume first?
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Apr 27
Today in NYC, Kalshi is launching crypto perpetual futures under the codename "Timeless." No expiry date. BTC several other crypto pairs at launch. USD as initial collateral, stablecoins coming Q2.
Polymarket front-ran them last week with its own perp futures product on X.
This is the moment prediction markets stopped being event-binary and started being perpetual continuous derivatives.
Why that matters for Asian crypto:
The Binance-style perp playbook is the most dominant retail derivative format in the world β and the highest revenue line for every major Asian crypto exchange. Funding rates, leverage, 24/7 markets. Asian retail is already trained on this UX.
So when Kalshi ($11B) and Polymarket ($9B) both pivot from "binary outcome contract" to "perpetual market on outcomes," they are not opening a new product line.
They are entering the most contested liquidity arena in crypto. And they are doing it in a market β Asia β where the local exchanges already have full Binance-grade perp infra and 5 years of Asian retail trader habit.
Quick poll for the PredicXion community, two options only:
A) The U.S. CFTC-licensed prediction-market perps win Asian retail
B) The local Asian exchanges fork prediction-market perps within 6 months and win on liquidity
Reply A or B. Receipts saved for the year-end leaderboard.
#PredictionMarkets #AsianCrypto #Perps
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Apr 27
The case for A: Kalshi and Polymarket already own the prediction-market price discovery brand. "Timeless" is a strong product name. CFTC licensing matters to institutional Asian flow (Singapore family offices, Japan post-FIEA).
The case for B: Asian retail does not pay a premium for U.S. licensing. Liquidity wins, and a Bitget or OKX fork would have the deeper book inside three weeks.
My personal lean is B for retail, A for institutional. The split is the actual story.
Which side gets to $1B daily volume first?
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Apr 27
Hong Kong just delayed the rollout of legal sports betting β and it cited prediction-market trading volume as the reason.
The number that broke the licensing track: $64 billion in regional prediction-market volume in 2025, up ~200% YoY.
Read that again. A jurisdiction designing a brand-new regulated sports-betting regime paused it because the unregulated cousin already moved that much liquidity.
This is the Asian crypto plot twist no Western prediction-market commentary is pricing in:
β The HK Jockey Club model assumes sports betting is the apex social product. Volume from prediction markets just disproved that.
β Singapore is seeing rising illegal prediction-market wagers running parallel to its tightly licensed sportsbooks.
β Japan reclassifies crypto under FIEA in April 2026 β opening the door for compliant on-chain prediction-market structures the U.S. is still fighting in court.
Asia is not the follower in this market. Asia is the early indicator.
For the PredicXion community β quick poll, two options only, no fence-sitting:
A) HK launches its own licensed prediction market within 12 months
B) HK doubles down on the Jockey Club model and pushes prediction markets back to grey-market
Reply with A or B. Receipts saved for a year-end leaderboard.
#PredictionMarkets #AsianCrypto #HongKong
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Apr 27
The case for A: $64B doesn't unhappen. HK has watched Singapore's licensed-stablecoin advantage compound. Once a regulator sees the volume, the playbook is "license it, tax it, trace it." Twelve months is aggressive but not crazy given HK's Web3 Festival positioning.
The case for B: Jockey Club is older than HK's modern financial sector. Cultural inertia is undefeated. And the gambling reclassification fight is politically expensive.
My personal lean is A. What changes your view?
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Apr 27
Hong Kong just delayed the rollout of legal sports betting β and it cited prediction-market trading volume as the reason.
The number that broke the licensing track: $64 billion in regional prediction-market volume in 2025, up ~200% YoY.
Read that again. A jurisdiction designing a brand-new regulated sports-betting regime paused it because the unregulated cousin already moved that much liquidity.
This is the Asian crypto plot twist no Western prediction-market commentary is pricing in:
β The HK Jockey Club model assumes sports betting is the apex social product. Volume from prediction markets just disproved that.
β Singapore is seeing rising illegal prediction-market wagers running parallel to its tightly licensed sportsbooks.
β Japan reclassifies crypto under FIEA in April 2026 β opening the door for compliant on-chain prediction-market structures the U.S. is still fighting in court.
Asia is not the follower in this market. Asia is the early indicator.
For the PredicXion community β quick poll, two options only, no fence-sitting:
A) HK launches its own licensed prediction market within 12 months
B) HK doubles down on the Jockey Club model and pushes prediction markets back to grey-market
Reply with A or B. Receipts saved for a year-end leaderboard.
#PredictionMarkets #AsianCrypto #HongKong
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Apr 27
The case for A: $64B doesn't unhappen. HK has watched Singapore's licensed-stablecoin advantage compound. Once a regulator sees the volume, the playbook is "license it, tax it, trace it." Twelve months is aggressive but not crazy given HK's Web3 Festival positioning.
The case for B: Jockey Club is older than HK's modern financial sector. Cultural inertia is undefeated. And the gambling reclassification fight is politically expensive.
My personal lean is A. What changes your view?
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