A former Polymarket executive disclosed on Wednesday a $15 million seed funding round for a new venture named The Clearing Company, which aims to compete in the prediction market space.
‘On-chain, Permissionless And Regulated’
Toni Gemayel, who previously served as Head of Growth for both Polymarket and Kalshi, said that the round was led by leading venture capital firm Union Square Ventures, with participation from Haun Ventures, Variant, Coinbase Ventures, the investment arm of Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) and other angel investors.
“We're building the first on-chain, permissionless *and* regulated prediction market,” Gemayel said
The startup’s core team is packed with former employees of Polymarket, presently the most popular blockchain-based prediction market in the world.
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The Expanding Footprints Of Prediction Markets
Polygon (CRYPTO: POL)-based Polymarket lets users bet on outcomes using the USDC (CRYPTO: USDC) stablecoin. The firm has attracted a multi-million-dollar investment from Donald Trump Jr.‘s venture capital fund, 1789 Capital.
Polymarket is also the official prediction market partner of Elon Musk’s social media giant X.
Note that Americans are currently barred from using the platform, but it has taken strides towards regulatory compliance by acquiring a CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange.
The other dominant player is Kalshi, a federally-regulated platform available to U.S. users. Both Polymarket and Kalshi drew significant attention in 2024 after their users correctly predicted Donald Trump‘s election victory, diverging from traditional pollsters.
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