Meta is considering partnerships with platforms Polymarket and Kalshi as it continues to develop its own prediction market service, tentatively named Arena. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has instructed the company’s management to explore this, according to sources cited by NYT.
According to these sources, Meta is exploring various ways to integrate popular prediction markets into its ecosystem. Concurrently, the company is working on Arena, an application where users can make predictions on political events, sports, the economy, and other topics.
Initially, the service will use a system of game points instead of monetary bets, but Meta does not rule out the introduction of financial mechanisms in the future.
Betting on a Rapidly Growing Market
Meta’s interest reflects the growing popularity of prediction markets, which have become one of the fastest-growing segments at the intersection of financial technology and the crypto industry following the U.S. elections. Polymarket, operating on blockchain infrastructure, and U.S.-regulated Kalshi have significantly expanded their audience and trading volumes over the past year.
Sources indicate that Meta aims to attract at least 100 million active users per month to its service. In the future, certain features of Arena may be integrated into Facebook and Messenger, although a final decision on the product launch has not yet been made.
Meta Aims to Stay Ahead
This is the second indication in a week of the company’s intentions to enter the prediction market. Earlier, media reported that Zuckerberg had tasked a small team with developing its own version of Polymarket and Kalshi. Now, Meta is also considering partnering with established players to quickly establish itself in this new segment.
Previously, U.S. gaming associations urged the Senate to ban prediction markets related to sports and gambling as part of a new cryptocurrency regulation bill.
