NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange eyes Polymarket funding round
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent of the New York Stock Exchange, is considering an additional investment in Polymarket's latest funding round. ICE CEO Jeff Sprecher said the exchange operator is open to participating, according to Foresight News. ICE has already invested more than $1.6 billion in the crypto-native prediction market platform. Polymarket is seeking fresh capital at a valuation above $20 billion.
ICE's deliberate move signals that the world's largest exchange operator sees prediction markets as permanent infrastructure, not a crypto experiment. Polymarket, anchoring a $20 billion round to a name like ICE insulates its valuation from the regulatory uncertainty that now shadows every sports event contract. Competitor Kalshi is chasing $40 billion with Sequoia and Wellington, so both platforms are pricing in growth that assumes no federal ban materializes.
The ICE relationship also gives Polymarket a path toward traditional market architecture that Kalshi's partnership model lacks. If the deal closes, it sets the institutional floor for prediction-market valuations and forces DraftKings' DKeX to prove vertical integration can match that stamp of exchange-operator legitimacy.
ICE's renewed interest in Polymarket's $20 billion round comes as Kalshi pursues a $40 billion raise, marking the first time two CFTC-registered prediction market platforms have simultaneously commanded valuations above $20 billion.