Circle Internet Group is partnering with Polymarket to move the prediction market’s settlement collateral from bridged stablecoins to Circle-issued, native USDC on Polygon. Polymarket currently uses a bridged form of USDC (USDC.e) and plans to complete the migration over the coming months, adopting a stablecoin that can be redeemed one-for-one for U.S. dollars through Circle’s regulated entities.
Circle says native USDC is more capital-efficient and scalable and removes reliance on cross-chain bridges. Bridges work by locking assets on one chain and issuing representative tokens on another, but they add trade-offs in security, trust and flexibility that don’t exist when using a single-chain native asset. By switching, Polymarket will hold collateral issued and redeemable directly by Circle rather than a bridged representation.
Polymarket founder and CEO Shayne Coplan said using native USDC will create a consistent dollar-denominated settlement standard, improving market integrity and reliability as participation grows.
Polymarket is an on-chain prediction market where users trade contracts tied to real-world events—from crypto prices to political outcomes—using stablecoins as collateral. USDC is currently the second-largest stablecoin after Tether’s USDT, with a market capitalization of about $70.77 billion, according to DefiLlama.
The migration happens as multiple exchanges and financial platforms expand into prediction markets. Gemini launched Gemini Predictions across all 50 U.S. states after regulatory approval; Coinbase announced a prediction product in partnership with Kalshi; Crypto.com released a U.S.-facing platform called OG; and retail firms including Robinhood and DraftKings introduced prediction offerings in 2025, building on interest that surged around the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Despite growing adoption, prediction markets face regulatory and integrity concerns. Analysts warn of insider trading risks when participants trade on or influence nonpublic information used for pricing, and state regulators have disputed whether event contracts are gambling in jurisdictions including Massachusetts and New York, citing challenges for platforms such as Kalshi.