Polymarket Founder Is Youngest Billionaire After NYSE Investment, Reveals Other Investments

By Hannah Perez

Shayne Coplan, the 27-year-old founder of Polymarket, has become the world’s youngest billionaire with self-made wealth, according to Bloomberg. Polymarket secured a historic investment of USD $2 billion from ICE, but received others before.

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• Shayne Coplan becomes the youngest billionaire with a self-made fortune.
• Polymarket received a historic investment of USD $2 billion from ICE, owner of the NYSE.
• Prior to the ICE injection, other companies also invested millions in Polymarket.
• The development not only elevates Copan’s status at 27 years old, it also legitimizes Polymarket’s business.

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Shayne Coplan, the 27-year-old founder of Polymarkethas secured status as the youngest billionaire with self-made wealth thanks to a landmark deal with the owner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Polymarketthe cryptocurrency-based prediction markets platform, announced this week an investment of up to $2 billion by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) that raised the company’s valuation to $9 billion.

This milestone makes Coplan, who dropped out of New York University two years ago in debt and built the app from his bathroom during the Covid-19 pandemic, an icon of the cryptocurrency boom and the Youngest self-made billionaire tracked by the Billionaires Index Bloombergaccording to a report from that news agency.

The size of Coplan’s fortune, who has received backing from millionaires such as Peter Thiel and Vitalik Buterin, was not disclosed.

Polymarket and its path to a regulated business

Polymarketlaunched in June 2020, allows users to bet on real outcomes such as elections, Federal Reserve (FED) interest rates or cultural awards, using “yes/no” contracts regulated by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to circumvent state bans on sports betting.

The platform attracted attention during the 2024 presidential elections, when it registered more than $3 billion in bets, establishing itself as a benchmark in predictive event trading.

However, the road was not easy. Previously, Polymarket had been fined USD $1.4 million by the CFTC for illegal trading, which implied its exit from the US market. A November 2024 FBI raid on Coplan’s apartment sparked accusations of “political retribution“, but the investigations by the Department of Justice and the CFTC were closed in July 2025.

That month, the company acquired the regulated exchange QCEX for a sum of USD $112 million, allowing its legal re-entry into the US market, now favorable to cryptocurrencies under the Trump administration.

Before ICE, others also injected capital

The agreement with ICE is not the first injection of capital for Polymarket. After the announcement, Coplan disclosed two previously unannounced financing rounds in the last two years, totaling USD $205 million.

The first, in 2024, raised USD $55 million led by Blockchain Capital at a valuation of USD $350 million. The second, in 2025, attracted USD $150 million led by Founders Fund by Peter Thiel, with the participation of Ribbit, Valor, Point72 Ventures, SV Angel, 1789 Capital, 1confirmation, Coinbase and Dragonflyat a valuation of $1.2 billion.

These add up to a total prior funding of around USD $279 million, including seed rounds of USD $4 million in 2020 and USD $70 million in May 2024. Key investors include the founder of EthereumVitalik Buterin, and 1789 Capital, whose association brought in Donald Trump Jr. as an advisor in August of this year.

The pact with ICE positions Polymarket to expand globally as an event data distributor, with plans on tokenization. Jeffrey Sprecher, CEO of ICE, praised the Coplan team for its focus on users and product in a competitive market with rivals such as Kalshi (ally of Robinhood). Even with the competition, Polymarket reaches monthly records in market creation.

Coplan, inspired by the ideas of economist Robin Hanson, sees in these markets a tool to better predict the real world: ““This is too good an idea to exist only in technical documents.”he wrote in X. With growing ties to Washington – via Sprecher, married to former Senator Kelly Loeffler –, Polymarket accelerates your transformation startup crypto to regulated financial business.

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Article written with the help of AI, edited by DailyBitcoin

Image generated with an AI tool, under a free use license

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