Polymarket customers positioned 27 bets on the outcomes of the Golden Globe Awards, with 26 of them turning out to be appropriate. Because the main prediction market grows in recognition, so do issues over insider buying and selling.
The partnership between Polymarket and the Golden Globes additionally raised questions on whether or not this would be the new regular for future awards ceremonies.
Polymarket Posts 96% Golden Globes Hit Charge
On Friday, the Golden Globes introduced in a press launch that it had partnered with the world’s largest prediction marketplace for the annual awards present.
That very same day, Polymarket created 28 Golden Globe-specific polls, with 27 of them solely centered on the outcomes of the varied classes at stake.
In simply three days, thousands and thousands of customers flocked to the platform to put their wagers on who this 12 months’s winners could be. Polls ranged from Finest Movement Image to Finest Podcast, with some buying and selling volumes exceeding $275,000. In complete, contracts amassed at the very least $2.5 million in bets.
Polymarket noticed a surge in Golden Globe-related polls forward of the awards ceremony. Supply: Polymarket.
On Sunday, the ceremony unfolded as anticipated. By the top of the evening, onstage winners weren’t the one ones leaving with trophies.
Polymarket bettors had motive to have fun too, with the platform appropriately calling 26 of 27 classes, a 96% hit charge.
The one betters left to lick their woes had been those that positioned their cash on Sean Penn as finest supporting actor as a substitute of Stellan Skarsgard, who gained for his efficiency in Sentimental Worth.
The last-minute partnership stunned many observers. Moreso, the outcomes drew renewed consideration to issues about potential insider buying and selling on these loosely regulated platforms.
Belief Questions Develop Round Occasion Contracts
Although 2026 is just two weeks in, a sequence of occasions associated to prediction market polls has raised a number of eyebrows.
On Wednesday, an argument born out of the White Home press room befell after Secretary Karoline Leavitt concluded her day by day briefing at roughly 64 minutes and 30 seconds, simply shy of the 65-minute mark that prediction market Kalshi had set as a betting threshold.
On the time, the market confirmed a 98% likelihood that the briefing would exceed the 65-minute mark. Merchants who wager towards this consequence noticed returns of as much as 50 occasions their funding inside seconds.
In the present day’s White Home Press Briefing had a 98% likelihood of operating over 65 minutes – till Karoline Leavitt abruptly ended it with seconds to spare.
Merchants on the NO aspect made 50x in seconds. pic.twitter.com/Fe0MVMq9Oj
— PredictionMarketTrader (@PredMTrader) January 7, 2026
The occasion rapidly generated concern over potential insider buying and selling. Nevertheless, Kalshi later dismissed these claims as baseless, on condition that the ballot noticed a low buying and selling quantity.
Nonetheless, these issues have contemporary precedents which are laborious to shrug off.
On January 3, simply hours earlier than the US introduced it had captured and extradited Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, one Polymarket dealer revamped $400,000 by betting he could be faraway from energy earlier than the top of the month.
Polymarket has additionally attracted politically related capital. In accordance with Axios, in 2025, the corporate introduced that it had obtained an funding from 1789 Capital, a enterprise agency affiliated with Donald Trump Jr., who additionally joined its advisory board.
Taken collectively, these episodes have additionally drawn consideration to the rising overlap between crypto and prediction markets.
Crypto Flows Rise With Betting Volumes
Polymarket is intently tied to on-chain rails. Customers can switch funds throughout varied networks, together with Ethereum, Polygon, Base, and Arbitrum, and deposit property comparable to USDT and USDC.
As betting exercise grows, demand for stablecoins specifically is prone to rise with it, pushing them additional into the award betting scene.
With the Oscars roughly two months away, the Golden Globes consequence raises questions on whether or not equally correct prediction markets will develop into a well-known characteristic in future award exhibits.
The Academy Awards haven’t but introduced any partnership of the kind. Regardless, Polymarket has listed polls on class outcomes.
Among the many 22 polls at present obtainable, buying and selling volumes vary from $112,000 to $8 million.
The publish After the Golden Globes, Polymarket’s Close to-Good Accuracy Raised Eyebrows appeared first on BeInCrypto.
