DeFi protocol Drift has launched a prediction market referred to as BET on the Solana blockchain, in keeping with an August 19 assertion.
Drift Protocol co-founder Cindy Leow in contrast the BET prediction market to perpetual buying and selling. She defined that simply as perpetual merchants wager on potential worth modifications in cryptocurrencies, predictive markets enable for monetary stakes within the outcomes of real-world occasions.
She said:
“The introduction of real-life occasions into permissionless finance opens the door to betting on the whole lot from putting a hyper-localized wager with a couple of mates to attempting to foretell the end result of the US presidential election.”
BET operate
BET works just like Polymarket, permitting customers to purchase YES or NO shares on an occasion such because the upcoming US presidential election.
Nevertheless, the Solana-based platform stands out by permitting customers to make use of greater than 30 cryptocurrencies – together with USDC and SOL, amongst others – as collateral. Customers additionally earn a return on their belongings earlier than the end result of the occasion is decided.
As well as, BET offers customers the choice to hedge their predictions with 'Structured Bets'. This function permits them to take a protracted place within the prediction market whereas shorting bitcoins. The platform additionally contains a rewards system referred to as FUEL, which is designed to drive buying and selling exercise and incentivize consumer engagement.
Whereas BET will initially deal with the US election, plans are underway to develop into different areas corresponding to Components 1 and different crypto and cultural occasions.
The recognition of prediction markets
Decentralized prediction markets have grown in recognition this 12 months because of the success of Polymarket. These platforms enable customers to wager on occasions starting from sports activities outcomes to geopolitical incidents.
Particularly, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin praised prediction markets as one of many main social epistemic applied sciences of 2020. He stated:
“(These markets) are truth-seeking and democratic, constructed on open public participation fairly than pre-selected elites.”
Nevertheless, the rising recognition of the market has prompted regulatory scrutiny. The U.S. Commodity Buying and selling Fee (CFTC) and lawmakers corresponding to Senator Elizabeth Warren have expressed concern concerning the public curiosity influence of those bets and referred to as for curbs on them.
Conversely, vital gamers within the crypto business corresponding to Coinbase and Gemini oppose these regulatory strikes, saying they’re economically flawed.
