Opinion has raised $20 million in a pre-Series A round, indicating growing investor conviction that onchain settlement is becoming the defining infrastructure layer for prediction markets.
The funding round was backed by Hack VC, Jump Crypto, Primitive Ventures, Decasonic, and other investors, according to the company.
Opinion is positioning itself around onchain settlement as a main design choice instead of competing purely on market breadth. Unlike centralized, CFTC-regulated platforms such as Kalshi, Opinion settles all markets directly onchain. This is a model closer to Polymarket with a similarly broad category mix. The company says this approach allows faster resolution, composability with DeFi tools, and transparency around collateral and payouts.
“Our settlement works entirely onchain,” the Opinion team told CoinDesk, explaining that infrastructure decisions, rather than marketing cycles, are driving user retention and repeat trading.
Liquidity concentration signals market maturity
Opinion is regularly in the top three tracked prediction exchanges, handling roughly one-third of global prediction-market volume. In volume terms, Opinion is rivaling the two top exchanges, Kalshi and Polymarket. The platform also carries more than $130 million in open interest, according to data from Dune Analytics. While overall crypto trading has softened, prediction markets have remained active.
According to DeFi Rate prediction market volume data, top prediction exchanges are regularly exceeding $6 billion in notional volume per week, making $30 billion months the new norm. Liquidity is increasingly concentrated on a handful of platforms with reliable settlement and deep markets.
That concentration suggests the sector is moving past its experimental phase. Instead, it is going toward a more durable structure, where infrastructure quality matters as much as headline events.
Diversification as a defensive strategy
A key differentiator for Opinion is market diversification. While much of the industry’s recent growth has been driven by US elections and major sports events, Opinion’s has been spread across many trading categories. This includes macroeconomic indicators, regional political outcomes, pre-token generation events, cultural moments, and crypto-related markets.
That combination is designed to reduce dependence on single-cycle events and smooth volume over time. Founder and CEO Forrest Liu said the platform’s diversity of markets has helped sustain engagement even outside peak political moments.
The strategy also aligns with observations from traditional finance. US bank Citizens has said that prediction markets are turning into a distinct asset class, with consistent monthly volumes as platforms expand into macro and policy-driven contracts.
Capital flows despite a weak crypto market
The recent raise stands out against declining cryptocurrency token prices and reduced venture deployment across much of the crypto sector. Investors appear to be distinguishing between speculative infrastructure and platforms addressing clear demand.
For funds like Hack VC and Jump Crypto, Opinion represents exposure to a category that combines trading, data, and real-world events.
Opinion said the new capital will be used to increase regional coverage. It will also expand globally ahead of major events such as the 2026 World Cup and upcoming elections.
Those events are expected to drive renewed interest in outcome-based markets. However, Opinion’s long-term bet is that prediction markets will remain active even between global headlines.
