Vitalik Buterin Sees Prediction Markets Shaping a New Era of Info Finance
Vitalik Buterin's Info Finance could be a way to build trust and transparency, particularly in decentralized governance and decision-making systems.
Prediction platforms, like Polymarket, recently attracted significant attention during the US elections for their distinct role in forecasting outcomes. However, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin believes these platforms hold even greater potential, envisioning their evolution to reshape social media, science, news, governance, and other sectors.
In his recent blog post titled “From Prediction Markets to Info Finance,” Buterin outlined a concept called “info finance,” which extends beyond traditional prediction markets by merging information with finance on a blockchain scale.
Buterin Highlights Prediction Markets’ Power Beyond Elections
Buterin sees prediction markets serving dual purposes: enabling bets and acting as alternative news sources. He highlights how platforms like Polymarket have become trusted for information, often outperforming traditional media in accuracy.
“To many people, prediction markets are about betting on elections, and betting on elections is gambling – nice if it helps people enjoy themselves, but fundamentally not more interesting than buying random coins on pump.fun,” Buterin wrote.
He noted that Polymarket accurately indicated a stronger chance for Trump to win certain elections, while mainstream sources suggested otherwise. It also effectively forecasted outcomes for Venezuela’s July election, combining real-time data with market predictions.
According to Buterin, these platforms offer valuable insights to both bettors and non-bettors. Bettors can place wagers, while other users can view market data as a unique news source. This structure, he argues, bridges the gap between information and finance, creating a type of “info finance” that could address issues of trust and accuracy on a blockchain scale.
Buterin noted that info finance allows users to extract valuable insights by identifying a key fact and designing a market to gather this information from participants. He envisions this concept as a “three-sided” market, where bettors make predictions, readers consume these forecasts, and the system generates public predictions.
This structure aligns financial incentives with the distribution of reliable information, creating a unique, value-driven ecosystem.
“One technology that I expect will turbocharge info finance in the next decade is AI (whether LLMs or some future technology). This is because many of the most interesting applications of info finance are on ‘micro’ questions: millions of mini-markets for decisions that individually have relatively low consequence,” Buterin added.
Looking forward, Buterin believes that info finance could expand beyond prediction markets to influence decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), personal tokens, and even advertising. In DAOs, for instance, prediction markets could complement or even replace traditional voting by leveraging both human and AI predictions to streamline decision-making.
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
You may also like
New spot margin trading pair — HOLO/USDT!
FUN drops by 32.34% within 24 hours as it faces a steep short-term downturn
- FUN plunged 32.34% in 24 hours to $0.008938, marking a 541.8% monthly loss amid prolonged bearish trends. - Technical breakdowns, elevated selling pressure, and forced liquidations highlight deteriorating market sentiment and risk-off behavior. - Analysts identify key support below $0.0080 as critical, with bearish momentum confirmed by RSI (<30) and MACD indicators. - A trend-following backtest strategy proposes short positions based on technical signals to capitalize on extended downward trajectories.

OPEN has dropped by 189.51% within 24 hours during a significant market pullback
- OPEN's price plummeted 189.51% in 24 hours to $0.8907, marking its largest intraday decline in history. - The token fell 3793.63% over 7 days, matching identical monthly and yearly declines, signaling severe bearish momentum. - Technical analysts cite broken support levels and lack of bullish catalysts as key drivers of the sustained sell-off. - Absence of stabilizing volume or reversal patterns leaves the market vulnerable to further downward pressure.

New spot margin trading pair — LINEA/USDT!
Trending news
MoreCrypto prices
More








