Polymarket integrates Solana to cut costs and boost user experience

Polymarket has added support for Solana (SOL) wallet deposits, a move designed to lower transaction costs and improve user experience as the blockchain-based prediction market continues its meteoric rise.

The integration brings one of the industry’s fastest, lowest-cost networks to a platform that has already cemented itself as a leading venue for event-based forecasting.

The company announced on March 24:

“Starting today, you can now make deposits into your Polymarket wallet using Solana.”

The addition of Solana is expected to further streamline user participation, particularly for retail users deterred by Ethereum’s (ETH) higher gas fees.

With near-instant finality and fractions-of-a-cent transaction costs, Solana positions Polymarket to scale its user base and support more granular forecasting across sectors.

Breakout growth

Polymarket experienced explosive growth in 2024, emerging as a central hub for political prediction and election sentiment. With thousands of users participating in markets tied to the US presidential race, the platform frequently outpaced traditional pollsters in accuracy and speed.

Traders were able to speculate on outcomes ranging from primary victories and debate performances to battleground state results and Electoral College margins.

As the election season progressed, the platform’s predictive markets became a sought-after alternative data source for analysts, media, and even political operatives looking for a crowd-sourced view of voter trends.

At its peak, Polymarket processed millions in daily volume, with users leveraging real money to signal their confidence in different scenarios.

Its market on the 2024 presidential winner drew unprecedented attention, with odds updating in real-time based on trader behavior. Following televised debates or breaking news, activity on the platform often surged, offering a snapshot of sentiment faster than traditional polling methods could capture.

Proven accuracy

The rise in Polymarket’s prominence has been matched by a growing body of evidence supporting its forecasting precision. In a recent study, data scientist Alex McCullough analyzed the platform’s performance using a Dune Analytics dashboard.

His research found that Polymarket was accurate 90% of the time when predicting the outcome of events one month before resolution. In the final four hours leading up to the resolution, that figure rose to 94%.

McCullough’s methodology filtered out markets with extreme pricing — odds above 90% or below 10% — to reduce the impact of predictable outcomes.

He noted that while the platform occasionally overestimated probabilities, the deviation was largely attributable to behavioral tendencies such as herd mentality, low liquidity, and user appetite for high-risk, high-reward wagers.

 

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