Betting on the World Cup Winner with Crypto? [Weekend Money]

$1 Settlement for Correctly Picking the Champion
Prediction Market Investments Using USDC

Interest in prediction markets such as Polymarket is increasing ahead of the World Cup season. Prediction markets are financial systems where the occurrence of real-world events is traded.

Betting on the expected winning countries is taking place on Polymarket in anticipation of the World Cup season. Screenshot of the Polymarket homepage

On June 20, Shinhan Investment Corp. stated in its report, "Prediction Markets Targeting the World Cup Boom," that capital is flowing into bets on the winning country of the World Cup.

Betting on the winner of the World Cup is taking place on Polymarket. Separate prices are being set for 'Yes' and 'No' tokens in response to the question of whether France will win the World Cup. As of the afternoon of June 18, the 'Yes' token was trading at $0.185, while the 'No' token was trading at $0.816.

Investors trade 'Yes' or 'No' tokens using the USDC stablecoin. Token prices are determined by bid and ask quotes. After the trade, once the betting outcome is finalized, $1 is paid out for the correct token, and $0 for the incorrect token. In other words, if you purchase a 'Yes' token on the question of whether France will win the World Cup, you will receive $1 if France wins.

Polymarket utilizes an off-chain order book and Polygon (blockchain)-based smart contracts. The results are determined through oracles and market rules, and settlement and redemption are automated via smart contracts.

Sungje Park, a researcher at Shinhan Investment Corp., explained, "If stablecoins and real-world asset tokenization (RWA) are bringing dollars and financial products on-chain, then prediction markets are converting real-world uncertainty into on-chain assets." He also cautioned, "Because prediction markets involve trading the outcomes of events, they exist on the boundary between financial products and betting, so criminal law regulations on gambling and regulations on speculative activities must be considered."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.