Peter Thiel’s venture firm is leading a nine‑figure Series C that values the on‑chain prediction market at $1 billion, even as U.S. regulators still block the platform from its largest potential audience.
Polymarket, the blockchain‑based prediction platform that lets traders bet on everything from the U.S. presidential race to Taylor Swift’s tour dates, is poised to raise $200 million in fresh capital led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, according to people familiar with the negotiations.
The conviction play widens a bridge between blue‑chip Silicon Valley capital and an industry still skirting the gray edges of U.S. gambling law.
That legal shadow matters because the United States is by far the world’s most lucrative betting market. Venture analysts say the valuation Founders Fund is paying only makes sense if Polymarket eventually unlocks U.S. access.
* Vitalik Buterin participated in Series B, though not officially listed as a lead.
* Series C figures are from a Bloomberg-sourced leak and remain unconfirmed by Polymarket or Founders Fund.
Yet that same decentralization alarms regulators who view event contracts as unlicensed derivatives. Whether Polymarket can convert headline traction into a sustainable, legal, and mainstream business will determine if the wisdom of crowds can finally pass the compliance test.
Founders Fund’s nine‑figure bet signals that some of Silicon Valley’s most influential investors believe the regulatory odds will break Polymarket’s way. Until they do, the unicorn crown sits on a platform still barred from the world’s richest pool of bettors, and that may prove the riskiest wager of all.
