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Crypto's Bet on Election Betting Expands to Solana
Perpetuals trading hub Drift protocol is adding a Polymarket-style prediction market – with some DeFi twists.
Aug 19, 2024, 2:15 p.m.
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Solana-based crypto trading platform Drift is adding prediction markets to its product lineup, placing a bet on Polymarket-style election betting, but with a few twists.
The BET service will allow traders to bet on binary outcomes (Will Trump win the election? Will Harris win the popular vote?) using cryptocurrencies, much like Polymarket has done atop Ethereum and Polygon.
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Drift's rendition, though, will be more ingrained in decentralized finance (DeFi). Users will be able to make their picks using dozens of cryptos as collateral, instead of just USDC, and earn yield on that collateral ahead of the event's outcome, Drift co-founder Cindy Leow said. Users can also hedge their event-based forecasts with structured trades on the price action of various cryptos.
Prediction markets are proving to be a breakout crypto use case this election cycle, with pundits in the mainstream media often citing Polymarket-derived statistics in their reporting. Traders who pour hundreds of millions of dollars into whatever outcome they think most likely are powering these markets.
Drift is primarily a perpetuals trading hub: it allows people to bet on future price action of cryptocurrencies without actually owning them. But it has branched into many different DeFi product lines including borrow-lend facilities, yield-generating strategies and even a trading page for election-flavored memecoin enthusiasts.
"We're targeting the group of solana traders that have been trying to trade on prediction markets but have been refusing to use polymarket because it's on Polygon, both from an ideological and functionality perspective," Leow said in an interview.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
알아야 할 것:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Ukraine banned Polymarket and there’s no legal way for it to come back
Polymarket and similar platforms are considered unlicensed gambling operators, leading to blocked access.
알아야 할 것:
- Ukraine has no legal framework for Web3 prediction markets, and current legislation provides no recognition for such platforms.
- Polymarket and similar platforms are considered unlicensed gambling operators, leading to blocked access.
- Legal changes are unlikely in the near future, as Parliamentary revisions to gambling definitions are extremely improbable during wartime, leaving prediction markets in a legal deadlock.
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