Elon Musk’s Favorite Betting Platform Is Now X’s ‘Official Prediction Market Partner’
Polymarket, a crypto-powered prediction platform that lets users wager on the outcomes of events like the New York City mayoral race, film box office numbers or the likelihood of a U.S. recession, gained significant traction last year during the U.S. Presidential election. Now, the platform is aiming for even broader mainstream appeal through a partnership with X, the Elon Musk-owned social media platform previously known as Twitter.
As X’s “official prediction market partner,” Polymarket will leverage real-time insights from X and analysis powered by Grok, the platform’s A.I. assistant, along with prediction market probabilities. While the terms of the partnership remain undisclosed, the collaboration promises to strengthen Polymarket’s presence.
Founded by Shayne Coplan in 2020, Polymarket made headlines last year when its odds predicted a Donald Trump victory in the election. Musk has praised the platform, claiming it is “more accurate than polls, as actual money is on the line.” In 2024, Polymarket hosted over $8 billion worth of predictions and attracted high-profile investors such as Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
The partnership represents a significant step for Polymarket in its efforts to become a more prominent part of the public conversation, according to Koleman Strumpf, an economics professor at Wake Forest University. Strumpf pointed out that various players in the prediction market industry are currently competing for brand recognition. By combining X posts with Polymarket data, the partnership could “spur additional interest in their markets,” he told Observer.
For X, the collaboration could add structure to its vast stream of posts. Strumpf suggests that the platform is likely “interested in this because it will keep more people engaged in specific stories,” adding that integrating Polymarket data would “provide a numerical commentary to go along with whatever words people are using.”
This isn’t Polymarket’s first effort to expand its reach through partnerships. Last July, the platform teamed up with Substack to integrate its prediction data into the content platform’s posts. It also collaborated with A.I.-powered search engine Perplexity on a partnership that enabled event news summaries.
X has previously ventured into betting-related collaborations, including a deal with sports-wagering platform BetMGM last year. In May, another prediction market platform, Kalshi, announced a partnership with Musk’s A.I. firm xAI, although the announcement was later retracted, as the details “had not been mutually confirmed.”
The Polymarket and X collaboration is expected to yield a series of jointly developed products and experiences. “The prediction market has grown into a staple source of real-time information for many X users,” said X CEO Linda Yaccarino in a statement. She added that the social media company looks forward to bringing its data and technology to Polymarket users “through a range of creative product integrations.”
