Polymarket has acquired crypto payments startup Brahma in a move aimed at improving liquidity across its prediction markets. The deal targets a persistent issue where smaller contracts struggle to attract sufficient capital.
The acquisition, first reported by Fortune, did not disclose financial terms. Polymarket said Brahma’s infrastructure will enhance user experience, particularly in onboarding and transaction flows. Founded in 2021, Brahma has processed over $1 billion in transactions and built tools designed to simplify crypto payments and DeFi interactions.
Carlos Garcia
Can Better Infrastructure Unlock Prediction Market Depth?
Liquidity remains concentrated in high-profile events such as elections and major sports outcomes, leaving niche markets thinly traded. This imbalance creates slippage, effectively increasing trading costs for users entering or exiting positions. By comparison, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols often rely on deeper liquidity pools and automated systems to maintain tighter spreads across assets.
But, prediction markets introduce unique challenges. Each contract represents a distinct outcome, fragmenting liquidity across thousands of potential bets. Brahma’s experience in DeFi could help aggregate capital more efficiently, particularly for less popular markets such as regional events or specialized outcomes that currently lack participation.
Brahma co-founder Alessandro Tenconi said the integration could remove friction tied to wallet creation, deposits, and token redemption.
“Creating a wallet, depositing and converting shares, and redeeming outcome tokens” are key areas where users face complexity, he noted, suggesting improvements could broaden participation beyond experienced crypto traders.
Still, the acquisition comes as Polymarket explores further expansion. The platform is reportedly seeking new funding at a $20 billion valuation, according to The Wall Street Journal. Whether improved liquidity and smoother user flows translate into sustained growth will depend on how effectively the platform can distribute capital across its long tail of markets, with user activity in smaller contracts emerging as the next indicator to watch.
