Polymarket Founder Shayne Coplan: Blockchain Let Me Build a Global Platform From My Bedroom
Miami Beach — When Shayne Coplan launched Polymarket, he had no team, no major funding—just a laptop and a vision powered by blockchain.
“I’m a solo founder. I literally started with next to no money,” Coplan said at Cantor Fitzgerald’s crypto, AI, and blockchain conference in Miami Beach on Wednesday. “The beauty of blockchain is that it lets someone experiment and innovate from anywhere, whether it’s a bedroom, office, or bathroom.”
Coplan credited blockchain’s open architecture for allowing him to create a global market without traditional institutional barriers. “In traditional finance, the entry hurdles are high for young creators with limited capital and time,” he explained.
A Market Driven by Real-World Probabilities
Polymarket, launched in 2020, allows users to trade on real-world outcomes—from elections and Fed decisions to pop culture events. Unlike polls or expert predictions, prices are determined by the market itself, reflecting collective conviction and risk.
“When people track events that impact their lives, polls can be noisy. Markets provide a price backed by real risk and belief,” Coplan said. Trades are peer-to-peer, with the midpoint of bids and asks representing the probability of an outcome paying out $1.
Expanding Beyond Politics
Coplan sees prediction markets as tools for decision-making and risk management. “You can model scenarios—what if candidate A drops out? What if they don’t? Markets can help society make informed decisions,” he said.
Polymarket also offers a competitive edge over traditional sportsbooks. “Conventional platforms trade against the house, manipulate prices, and can penalize profitable users. We provide fairness—your opinion and your money determine value,” he noted.
Future Potential: AI and Niche Markets
AI agents could soon enhance market efficiency by monitoring news, analyzing sentiment, and correcting mispricings. “Even with low liquidity, agents will compete to build the most accurate models,” Coplan said.
He highlighted the long tail of niche markets, saying, “It may not drive massive volume, but it unlocks a new way to measure uncertainty. Polymarket odds can be applied to countless scenarios.”
As Polymarket prepares to scale its U.S. presence and roll out a beta exchange, Coplan remains focused on creating a platform that delivers on blockchain’s promise.
“Our goal is simple: build the best product, one that people love to use, where your opinion actually matters,” he said.
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