Polymarket Founder Shayne Coplan Becomes Youngest Self-Made Billionaire After ICE Investment

Shayne Coplan, the founder of Polymarket, has become the world’s youngest self-made billionaire at the age of 27 years old.

Coplan’s status was confirmed when Polymarket announced that the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) owner, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), had invested $2 billion in the prediction market platform. He takes the mantle from cofounder & CEO of Scale AI, Alex Wang, who is now 28 years old.

The ICE investment comes at a time when Polymarket is preparing to relaunch in the US market amid a boom for prediction markets. Rival platform Kalshi has seen billions of dollars traded on its NFL markets this season.

In response to the investment, Coplan made a long post on X with the title, “Markets on everything.” In the post, he wrote of how he had gambled on the potential of prediction markets as a 21-year-old with “nothing to lose.”

From FBI Raids to NYSE Investment

Only last year, Coplan had his home raided by the FBI over allegations that Polymarket was accepting US customers. The platform is now set to legally relaunch in the country after acquiring QCEX, a platform licensed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Three years ago, the CFTC fined Polymarket $1.4 million for offering unregistered event contracts and ordered the company to stop accepting US users. The FBI and CFTC ended their investigations of the company earlier this year with no charges. This paved the way for reentry to the country as other platforms, such as Kalshi and Crypto.com, rapidly increase their range of markets.

Coplan referenced the challenges over the past few years in his post on X, stating, “The past two years have been surreal. Going from a write off to creating a category, watching our vision become a reality. The Polymarket origin story is funny because it’s a rare case of the dream being identical to how things played out.”

Despite facing a troubled past, Polymarket has attracted interest from high-profile investors. In addition to the recent ICE investment, 1789 Capital also invested in the platform.

Donald Trump Jr. serves as a partner at the firm and, after the investment, signed on as a strategic advisor to the company.

Polymarket Pushes Boundaries on Acceptable Markets

While Kalshi has been the subject of numerous legal challenges as it expands its sports markets, Polymarket’s offerings are even more controversial.

The company has a range of markets that allow users to trade on military action in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine. Germany’s gambling regulator has warned residents about participating in these markets on Polymarket.

The Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), which sets the rulebook for CFTC-licensed platforms, states that markets trading on war, assassination, and gaming are all prohibited. The organization has not enforced the rules around gaming, however.

Polymarket could face repercussions over its war markets when it relaunches in the US. It will almost certainly face challenges over its sports markets, which continue to attract lawsuits from state regulators and tribal groups.

The platform is also blocked in numerous other countries, including Australia, which recently accused the company of advertising illegally through social media influencers.

Whatever the future holds for the company, Coplan has come a long way since he was single-handedly running Polymarket from a makeshift bathroom office.