The odds of Donald Trump launching a coin before the November election skyrocketed on prediction platform Polymarket after the former president announced the launch date of his upcoming cryptocurrency project.
What happened: Bets in favor of the token launch ballooned from 40% 24 hours earlier to 85% as of this writing.
The odds have been rising since Trump started promoting the decentralized finance (DeFi) venture, called World Liberty Financial, on social media.
The breakthrough moment came on Aug. 29 when the presidential hopeful teased a plan to make the U.S. "the crypto capital of the planet," causing the probability to spike from 17% to 24%.
From then on, frequent updates by the project enticed users to increase their bets.
The latest explosion came on the heels of Trump finally announcing that the project would be launched next Monday on X Spaces.
About $1.7 million has been wagered by bettors on the occurrence of this event.
See Also: Sam-Altman Founded Worldcoin Soars On OpenAI’s o1 Announcement, XRP Rides On Grayscale Trust Launch
Why It Matters: Polymarket, built atop Ethereum's ETH/USD Layer-2 chain, Polygon MATIC/USD, has emerged as one of the world’s top prediction markets for U.S. elections in recent months.
The platform allows users to bet on major global events using cryptocurrencies, opening up a new business avenue for the asset class.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris established a slender lead over Trump in odds of winning the election. Trump's probability has fallen significantly ever since Harris replaced incumbent President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee.
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