Polymarket, Kalshi, and the $14.5B Halftime Show Nobody Asked For ⚽

Prediction markets hit $14.5 billion in weekly trading volume for the first time last week, according to figures cited by Andreessen Horowitz and aggregated by Artemis, while the value of outstanding bets climbed to a record $1.6 billion for the third consecutive week. Kalshi held a 62% share of total trading volume, ahead of Polymarket's 28%, as both platforms leaned into the 2026 FIFA World Cup with stadium signage, broadcast spots, and online ads featuring figures such as Croatia's Luka Modrić for Kalshi and American rapper Future for Polymarket. ADI Predictstreet, a Gibraltar-licensed market that unveiled a sponsorship deal with FIFA in April, said Friday it would collaborate with Kalshi through the knockout stage, with branding set to appear across stadiums, TV, and digital channels. DraftKings separately announced the launch of DKeX, a prediction market product it said will expand throughout the World Cup window.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup opens Thursday across North American venues, with 104 matches scheduled in the expanded 48-team format. Bernstein analysts projected more than $3 billion in incremental handle tied to the tournament, a figure Robinhood and Coinbase have publicly cited as they accelerate growth of their own prediction offerings. Robinhood began routing wagers to the exchange Rothera in late May; Rothera's weekly trading volume rose from $2.1 million to $805 million over the period measured by Artemis. Myriad, a prediction market owned by Dastan, the parent company of Decrypt, is included in the Artemis dataset.

Separately, Strategy's flagship preferred share Stretch (STRC) set a new record low at the open on Friday as Bitcoin remained below $60,000.