Polymarket Official Clarifies Rumors of 12 Billion Funding: How Shareholder's Personal Actions Spark Market Hot Topics

Polymarket has officially debunked the rumors. On January 14th, regarding the claim that “a certain broker sold Polymarket equity to clients at a valuation of 12 billion,” Polymarket’s official statement to BlockBeats confirmed that this was a personal action by an individual shareholder and not an official fundraising. A simple clarification, yet it reflects how popular this prediction market platform has recently become.

Why Do Rumors Appear

This is not unfounded. Polymarket’s performance over the past few months has indeed been enough to attract attention.

According to relevant information, trading volume on prediction market platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi has recently hit record highs. Just last weekend, Kalshi’s betting volume exceeded $900 million. This surge in popularity has even begun to impact traditional sports betting companies—DraftKings and Flutter Entertainment saw their stock prices drop 14.5% and 21% respectively over the past year, as both are rushing to develop their own prediction markets.

On the Polygon chain, Polymarket’s performance is even more impressive. Since early 2026, Polygon protocol fee income has exceeded $1.7 million, with over 12.5 million POL tokens burned (worth over $1.5 million). After Polymarket introduced charging for its 15-minute prediction markets, it contributed the majority of this revenue. In the past 24 hours alone, Polymarket generated over $100,000 in fees for Polygon.

With such popularity, rumors about fundraising naturally arise.

The True Value of Polymarket

More worth noting is that this platform is indeed growing rapidly.

Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan has ranked ninth on Forbes’ list of self-made billionaires under 30 in 2025, thanks to this platform. Behind this ranking is the overall explosion of the prediction market sector—9 out of the top 13 are from the AI industry, with the remaining 4 all from prediction markets and online casinos.

The Meaning of the Official Clarification

What does this clarification signify?

First, Polymarket’s official stance on fundraising information is cautious. If there were genuine fundraising plans, such rumors wouldn’t be allowed to spread wildly. Second, the distinction between an individual shareholder’s actions and official fundraising is crucial—former is a personal asset allocation, while the latter involves company financing and valuation adjustments.

From another perspective, the rumor of a 12 billion valuation itself indicates market expectations for Polymarket. The platform’s position in the prediction market sector and its value within on-chain economics have already been widely recognized.

Summary

This rumor debunking essentially reflects the recent popularity and market position of Polymarket. The official timely response highlights the importance of transparent information, and market attention to the fundraising rumors indirectly proves that prediction markets are becoming an important part of the crypto ecosystem. For investors, the key is to distinguish between official information and market rumors and to assess the platform’s fundamentals.