Polymarket betting markets return 455% on Trump’s interview with Musk Polymarket betting markets return 455% on Trump’s interview with Musk
Trump's return to X drives $829,707 in bets on Polymarket, though no mention of Bitcoin or crypto.
3 min read
Updated: Aug. 13, 2024 at 2:14 pm UTC
Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Flickr. Remixed by CryptoSlate
Polymarket betting markets have surged with activity centered around Donald Trump’s return to the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. These markets allow participants to wager on various outcomes tied to Trump’s online behavior and public statements, with significant sums of money placed on precise predictions.
One of the more active markets is focused on how many times Trump will tweet over the next week. Participants can bet on various ranges, from 11-15 tweets to over 50 tweets within a single week. Currently, the largest bets are concentrated in the 11-15 range, drawing $72,399 in wagers, reflecting a 28% probability. Another heavily bet-on range is the possibility of Trump tweeting more than 50 times weekly, which holds an 18% chance with $71,713 wagered.
Disputed market on Trump activity
Another prominent Polymarket market focuses on whether Trump will post on X again before the November 2024 election. With a total of $829,707 in bets, this market currently predicts a 100% certainty that Trump will post again before the election deadline. According to the market’s terms, any original post, reply, or quote tweet by Trump will resolve the market as a “Yes.” The resolution source is his verified @realDonaldTrump account, with retweets explicitly excluded from counting towards the outcome.
This market has attracted attention not just for the bets themselves but also because the outcome is currently under dispute. Disputes in such markets often arise when there is ambiguity in counting what constitutes a tweet, especially with the nuances of X’s platform, changing the term to ‘posts.’
Polymarket employs UMA’s Optimistic Oracle to resolve its prediction markets, providing a decentralized and trustless resolution mechanism. This system allows Polymarket to integrate real-world data into its smart contracts, which is essential for determining wagers’ outcomes, such as those on Donald Trump’s activity on social media platforms.
The process begins with the UMA CTF Adapter, which acts as a bridge between the Optimistic Oracle and Polymarket’s market conditions. When a market is created, a request for resolution data is automatically sent to the Optimistic Oracle. Proposers within the UMA system can then submit answers to this request backed by a bond. If the proposed answer is not contested, it is accepted after a challenge period, typically lasting about two hours.
However, if there is disagreement, disputers can challenge the proposed resolution. In the event of a dispute, the system initially resets the question and issues a new request to ensure that trivial disagreements do not impede market resolution. Should a dispute persist, it escalates to UMA’s Data Verification Mechanism (DVM), where UMA token holders vote on the correct outcome. This voting process typically resolves disputes within 48 to 72 hours, ensuring a transparent and community-driven resolution. This structured dispute system highlights Polymarket’s reliance on UMA’s oracle infrastructure to handle the complexities and ambiguities inherent in prediction markets, as noted by UMA’s documentation and Polymarket’s integration guidelines.
Additional Trump X prediction markets
Additionally, a specific market was dedicated to what Trump might have said during his highly anticipated interview with Elon Musk last night. Participants are betting on whether Trump would mention particular topics, such as “MAGA,” “Bitcoin,” or “illegal immigrants,” during the discussion. The market saw significant activity, with the “MAGA” keyword drawing $739,199 in bets, indicating strong expectations that Trump would invoke this slogan during the interview.
Interestingly, a substantial amount was also wagered on the possibility of Trump mentioning the word “tampon,” which has captured $447,932 in bets, though the reasons behind this particular speculation remain unclear. Other topics like “Bitcoin” and “civil war” saw less betting activity, suggesting lower expectations that these subjects will come up in the conversation.
The only markets resolved with “Yes” were “MAGA,” “illegal immigrant,” and “tampon.” None of the other terms, including Bitcoin and crypto, were mentioned. “Tampon” jumped from 9 cents to 100 cents in a matter of minutes during the debate, while “MAGA” had a low of 59 cents before resolving to 100 cents. Finally, “illegal immigrant” could be wagered on for 49 cents at its lowest yesterday. Some traders made returns as high as 455%, betting on the interview’s contents.
The disputes and significant wagers reflect the uncertainty and anticipation of how Trump will engage with his audience on the platform, especially as the 2024 election approaches. Polymarket’s role in facilitating these predictions highlights the intersection of politics, social media, and the emerging world of predictive crypto markets, where financial stakes are directly tied to the behavior of public figures.
Donald Trump is a crucial driver of activity on Polymarket. As of press time, over $73 million has been wagered on him winning the 2024 Presidential Election.
Mentioned in this article
Author 
Liam 'Akiba' Wright
Also known as "Akiba," Liam is a reporter, editor and podcast producer at CryptoSlate. He believes that decentralized technology has the potential to make widespread positive change.
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In this article
Bitcoin, a decentralized currency that defies the sway of central banks or administrators, transacts electronically, circumventing intermediaries via a peer-to-peer network.
Polymarket
Polymarket is a decentralized prediction market platform that enables users to bet on world events using cryptocurrency.
A businessman, politician, and media personality, Donald John Trump served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
South African-born Elon Musk has founded several companies, including X.com (which later became PayPal), SpaceX and Tesla Motors.
