Prediction markets are experiencing a critical shift from investment hotspots to infrastructure development.

First, let's look at the anomalies on the financing side. In December this year, Kalshi completed a $1 billion Series E funding round led by Paradigm, with its valuation soaring to $11 billion, with top-tier institutions like Sequoia and CapitalG participating throughout. Meanwhile, another leading platform received a $2 billion strategic investment from ICE, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, with its valuation locked at $9 billion. These figures reflect not only strong capital confidence but also the beginning of traditional financial giants deeply entering this track.

Even more interesting is the fission of application scenarios. Prediction platforms are no longer operating independently but are starting to deeply integrate with mainstream channels—one leading platform has established partnerships with CNBC and CNN, while another has connected with Yahoo Finance and professional sports events. Major events like the 2026 World Cup and midterm elections are expected to maintain weekly trading volumes above $100 million.

But the real turning point lies in the change of value positioning. The market's focus has quietly shifted from "trading tools" to "data assets." Some institutional research teams believe that distributed prediction data is becoming a "truth source" for financial institutions to hedge macro risks, even surpassing traditional polls in accuracy. In other words, prediction markets are gradually evolving from a betting venue into a data provider at the infrastructure level.