Polymarket 15-Minute Markets: The Bitcoin Bets Behind a Record $2.7B Week

Polymarket 15-minute markets are yes-or-no contracts on whether Bitcoin closes a 15-minute window above or below its opening price. You buy “Up” or “Down” shares priced between 1 and 99 cents, and the winning side pays out at $1. Settlement runs on a Chainlink price feed, around the clock, 96 windows a day. That simple product just set a record. Crypto contracts across prediction markets did $2.7 billion in weekly volume this week, and most of it came from these short Bitcoin bets. Crypto is now the second biggest category behind sports.