NYSE Owner ICE Invests Up to $2 Billion in Polymarket at $9 Billion Valuation
Polymarket, the prediction markets platform, announced a major strategic investment from Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE), the owner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). ICE plans to invest “up to $2 billion” in cash into Polymarket.
The transaction places Polymarket’s pre-investment valuation at roughly $8 billion, with a post-investment valuation of $9 billion.
This deal represents one of the largest Traditional Finance (TradFi) investments in the crypto sector to date, signaling Wall Street’s accelerated embrace of emerging decentralized markets. ICE will discuss the investment in greater detail during its quarterly earnings call on October 30.
Exponential Growth and Strategic Timing
The massive investment follows a period of rapid appreciation for Polymarket. Just a few months earlier, in June 2025, the company secured $200 million in a funding round led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, which valued the firm at approximately $1 billion. The new ICE investment, therefore, represents an eight-fold increase in valuation in less than half a year.
The funding also coincides with Polymarket’s strategic push back into the U.S. regulated market. The company is actively positioning itself as a regulated prediction market under the oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This effort includes the recent acquisition of the CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange QCX in July 2025 and the filing of new contracts for both sporting events and elections.
Partnership Focused on Data and Tokenization
The capital infusion is part of a broader, long-term strategic partnership between the two entities. The collaboration aims to merge ICE’s institutional scale with Polymarket’s consumer engagement.
- Data Distribution: ICE will become the global distributor of Polymarket’s event-driven data. This data will provide ICE clients with new sentiment indicators covering political, economic, sports, and cultural trends.
- Tokenization Initiatives: ICE and Polymarket have agreed to collaborate on future tokenization initiatives, integrating the emerging DeFi space with traditional finance infrastructure.
World-Class Products for the Modern Investor
Leaders from both firms expressed optimism about the partnership’s disruptive potential.
Jeffrey C. Sprecher, ICE Chair and CEO, highlighted the historical nature of the deal. He stated that the investment connects the centuries-old ICE with a “revolutionary company pioneering in the Decentralized Finance space.” Sprecher believes the combined assets can uniquely serve cross-market opportunities.
Shayne Coplan, Polymarket Founder and CEO, called the partnership a “major step in bringing prediction markets into the financial mainstream.” He added that by combining ICE’s institutional credibility with Polymarket’s consumer savvy, they can deliver “world-class products for the modern investor.”
Coplan described the transaction as a “monumental step forward” for decentralized finance.
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