Polymarket moves crypto settlements to TWAP pricing August 7
Polymarket will switch its crypto market settlements to a time-weighted average price (TWAP) starting August 7, UTC. The change moves the platform away from single snapshot settlements. Polymarket designed the upgrade to reduce price manipulation during low-liquidity windows and improve market integrity. The crypto markets are the first vertical on the platform to adopt TWAP pricing. Crypto market manipulation concerns had previously centered on thin-order-book snapshots that a single large trade could distort.
The upgrade lands one day after Bloomberg identified manipulation vulnerabilities on Polymarket and Kalshi. Polymarket is the first of the two to convert scrutiny into product engineering. TWAP smooths price discovery across time rather than trusting one thin-liquidity moment. That matters most for crypto markets, where overnight gaps and whale-driven spikes are routine. Traders gain settlement predictability.
The platform gains a defensible integrity claim before regulators or lawmakers cite manipulation as grounds for restriction. Kalshi has not announced a parallel fix. The gap could become a competitive trust signal if Congress advances its sports-contract ban with manipulation as the public rationale. Polymarket's timing suggests it sees regulatory risk as the sharper threat than the technical cost of rebuilding settlement infrastructure.