Vitalik Buterin Critiques Prediction Markets as Bitcoin Falls to $112.7K on Whale Sell-Off
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said most prediction markets are unattractive for hedging since they don’t pay interest, forcing users to give up ~4% APY available on stable assets, though he expects volumes to grow once this issue is solved. His remarks came as Polymarket’s monthly volume slipped to $1.06B in July from $1.16B in June, even as active traders climbed to 286K. Meanwhile, Bitcoin slipped back to $112.7K after a brief rally above $117K on Jerome Powell’s rate-cut hints, with analysts noting the surge was driven by thin liquidity and quickly faded. The drop accelerated after a whale sold 24,000 BTC ($2.7B), sparking a flash crash and rotation into Ethereum ($2B purchased, $1.3B staked), though some analysts said multiple large players or exchanges were likely involved.