At just 27 years old, Shayne Coplan has become the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. The American entrepreneur is the founder of Polymarket, a blockchain-based prediction and betting platform that has rapidly gained global attention. The company’s valuation soared after the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, announced an investment of up to $2 billion.
Blockchain, Betting, and a Billion-Dollar Vision
The funding, revealed on Tuesday, boosted Polymarket’s market value to around $8 billion. According to ICE, the investment aims to expand the use of tokenization and data-driven technology across the financial sector.
Polymarket allows users to bet on real-world outcomes — from elections and economic trends to sports events and pop culture moments. Built on blockchain, the same technology that underpins cryptocurrencies, the platform offers transparency, traceability, and security in all transactions.
Through its partnership with ICE, Polymarket is expected to become a global distributor of market-behavior data while developing new digital-asset products. The initiative aligns with the growing movement toward tokenization, the process of converting real-world assets into virtual representations, a concept similar to Brazil’s digital currency, Drex.
ICE executives praised Polymarket as “revolutionary,” noting that the collaboration could open fresh opportunities in financial innovation. The exchange emphasized the company’s focus on user experience and technological development.
From Personal Crisis to Billion-Dollar Success
Coplan founded Polymarket in 2020 after dropping out of New York University. Before that, he had invested unsuccessfully in cryptocurrencies and reportedly sold his personal belongings to pay rent.
During the pandemic, he began studying prediction markets and turned his research into a functioning platform. The company’s rise was not without controversy: Polymarket faced regulatory scrutiny and even FBI investigations after the 2024 U.S. elections, when political wagers surpassed $3 billion.
Despite those challenges, the company survived, and thrived. ICE’s multibillion-dollar backing has now cemented Coplan’s place among the leading figures of the digital-economy generation: entrepreneurs who blend risk, technology, and innovation to create new forms of wealth.