Polymarket CMO confirms POLY token and airdrop plans as prediction market boom gathers steam

Polymarket Chief Marketing Officer Matthew Modabber has confirmed plans to launch a native POLY token and an accompanying airdrop as the prediction market gains growing investor interest amid a trading volume boom.

Earlier this month, the company's founder, Shayne Coplan, had teased a POLY token launch, The Block previously reported.

"There will be a token, there will be an airdrop," Modabber said during an interview on the Degenz Live podcast on Thursday. "We could have launched a token whenever we wanted, and it's just how thorough we want to be about it. We want it to be a token with true utility, longevity, and to be around forever, right? That's what we expect from ourselves, and that's what I think everyone in the space expects from us."

However, Polymarket's current focus is on its U.S. app launch, with Coplan confirming in September that the platform has been "given the green light to go live" in the country again after halting operations there in 2022 amid regulatory uncertainty. "Why rush a token if we need to prioritize the U.S. app, right?" Modabber said. "After the U.S. launch, there will be a focus on the token and getting that live and making sure that it's well done."

Nevertheless, Modabber's remarks have crystallized market expectations and set off fresh chatter about how the token will be distributed. Speculators have suggested the airdrop will be allocated based on trading volume, meaning the most active users on the platform could stand to receive the largest share.

Confirmation of an eventual POLY token comes as predictions market adoption heats up, with Polymarket and rival Kalshi logging $1.4 billion and $2.9 billion in respective trading volume last month, according to The Block's data dashboard.

On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that Polymarket is exploring fresh funding at a valuation of up to $15 billion. The firm recently secured a $2 billion investment from NYSE parent company Intercontinental Exchange at a $9 billion post-money valuation — accelerating rapidly from its $1.2 billion valuation following a $150 million round in June, led by Peter Thiel's Founder's Fund.

Additionally, the platform will serve as the clearing partner for DraftKings' moves into prediction markets and has also reached a multi-year licensing deal with the National Hockey League.