Polymarket Invests in Research Institute to Study Prediction Markets

Polymarket has launched a research institute focused on studying how prediction markets redefine societal assessment of uncertainty. As one of the sector's largest players, Polymarket announced the Polymarket Institute, dedicated to academic research on prediction markets. The institute aims to provide institutional rigor and infrastructure to measure how these markets can function at scale. Polymarket will fully fund the initiative, though it declined to disclose the total investment.

■Polymarket's decentralized finance platform has gained headlines for contracts allowing users to wager on sports, interest rate cuts, and elections.

■In July, Polymarket's global platform averaged 586,000 monthly active users, according to Token Terminal.

■Major publications like The Wall Street Journal and Yahoo Finance have partnered with Polymarket to feature its odds in their coverage.

■Kai Brusch, Polymarket's head of data, will serve as the institute's managing director, while Brian Jabarian, an assistant professor in economics and technology at Carnegie Mellon University, will be its scientific director.

■Jabarian will not receive personal compensation for his role.

■The institute will support academic work through the Polymarket Science Fellowship, a one-year program for doctoral researchers in information economics, market design, forecasting, and prediction markets.

■The first cohort will include 12 fellows, each receiving a one-time $10,000 grant.

■Applications will open on August 18 via a dedicated website.

■Workshops will be held in New York, but fellows can participate remotely or in person.

■Selected fellows will study how markets aggregate information, manage risk, and intersect with AI, policy, and crypto, using expanded Polymarket data access.

■Brusch spent months searching for the right academic leader, speaking with candidates across multiple universities.

■He eventually connected with Jabarian through a mutual contact.

■The two “clicked from the beginning,” recognizing their shared interest in treating prediction markets as a serious subject of study.

■Researchers must sign a legal agreement barring them from trading on Polymarket or similar platforms while involved with the institute.

■They are also required to publish their work alongside GitHub repositories containing their code and methods.

■Each fellow retains the unconditional right to publish in any journal, even if findings are critical of Polymarket.

■Jabarian said, “If they find some results that are not great for Polymarket in some way, we don’t really care.” - Fellows will receive funding through a university gift model rather than sponsored research.

■Jabarian emphasized that this distinction ensures Polymarket has no “editorial influence” or jurisdiction over research results.

Prediction markets are proving more accurate than traditional polls, and the technology's implications deserve serious academic and industry collaboration. This development could reshape future market forecasting by introducing a new data source in crypto and finance.