Prediction markets are moving from specialist trading platforms into mainstream news coverage, and a new industry conference is being built around that shift. NEXTPredict, described by organizer NEXT.io as the first global B2B conference for the sector, is scheduled for October 22–23 at Convene in Hudson Yards, New York.
The event will bring together exchanges, regulators, financial-market participants and journalists as prediction markets attract growing attention from cable television, wire services and equity research. CNBC correspondent Contessa Brewer and CNN senior reporter Marshall Cohen have joined a program expected to feature more than 50 speakers and 2,500 attendees.
According to Decrypt, NEXT.io co-founder and managing director Pierre Lindh said the sector had developed a large audience without receiving coverage that met what he described as “real journalistic standards.” He also said the audience interested in prediction-market stories is substantially larger than the trading base of the iGaming industry from which he came.
Why the conference is bringing reporters to the stage
NEXTPredict’s organizers are treating journalism as part of the main program rather than limiting reporters to a conventional press area. Brewer and Cohen were added in August, with their participation arranged around coverage of the midterm elections.
Lindh said the conference needed a meaningful amount of content that national broadcasters would consider important enough to send crews to cover. In his view, standard business-to-business panel discussions are not sufficient to attract the attention of a national news desk. The conference’s media plan has consequently expanded from 50 press passes to between 100 and 200.
That creates a tension in the event’s purpose. The midterms are helping drive public attention to prediction markets, while the delegates attending the summit are expected to focus more heavily on the structure of the markets themselves. Lindh acknowledged that the subject attracting television coverage may not be the same subject bringing industry participants into the room, but said both dimensions are necessary.
Prediction markets allow participants to trade contracts tied to the outcome of future events. Their prices are commonly interpreted as market-implied probabilities, although participation, liquidity and market design affect how those prices should be understood.
A highly visible sector with uneven participation
The growing news presence of prediction markets does not necessarily mean that platform usage has reached the same scale. Token Terminal measured Polymarket’s monthly active users at about 283,300, defined as unique addresses making a revenue-generating transaction. That figure was down from a spring peak above 750,000.
Kalshi reported adding 3 million users during the 2026 World Cup. Its market on the tournament winner recorded more than $1.2 billion in trading volume, a record for a single market, while activity on days without matches was substantially lower than on match days. The figures illustrate how strongly participation can rise around major news and sporting events without necessarily remaining at the same level afterward.
The sector is also drawing activity from existing crypto traders. A Langston Co. survey projected that the proportion of crypto traders using prediction markets would increase from 22% to 27%. Langston partner Tom Anderson told The Wall Street Journal that short-term upside, rather than a strong prior belief about an event, was a key attraction for some participants.
There are signs that prediction-market data is also being considered by professional users. Federal Reserve researchers found that Kalshi’s macroeconomic contracts matched conventional forecasting benchmarks and outperformed the Bloomberg consensus on headline CPI. At the same time, a working paper covering $13.76 billion in Polymarket trades found that about 3% of accounts captured roughly 27% of dollar profits. Yale economist Theis Jensen expects that concentration to decline below 1% as institutional participation increases and trading opportunities become more competitive.
Regulation, market integrity and the event’s own trade
The NEXTPredict program includes two serving CFTC directors: David Miller, from enforcement, and Duncan Hennes, from market participants. DraftKings chief executive Jason Robins, Robinhood’s JB Mackenzie, and executives from Kalshi, Novig, Cboe, Myriad and Blackstone are also scheduled to appear.
Insider trading will receive a dedicated session chaired by WilmerHale’s Matthew Kulkin. Lindh identified the issue as one of the industry’s most exposed areas and the most difficult challenge to resolve. The attention reflects a broader question facing prediction markets as they become more visible: how to preserve confidence in contracts whose prices can react quickly to information and whose outcomes may involve politically or commercially sensitive events.
The organizers have also used a prediction market to manage a practical risk facing the conference. They bought $3 million of coverage on Kalshi’s flight-cancellation market for a $12,000 premium, with Susquehanna acting as market maker. The position would pay if more than half of arrivals into New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport were canceled on October 21.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar market data at 10:38–10:39 a.m. on October 7, 2026, showed the following prices and performance:
- Gram (prev. Toncoin) (GRAM): $1.4690442985, down 5.91% over 24 hours and 1.73% over seven days.
- Nexus (NEX): $0.0000008088, down 0.79% over 24 hours and 2.04% over seven days.
- RedStone (RED): $0.1496616376, down 9.95% over 24 hours and 10.45% over seven days.
- Propy (PRO): $0.3566492995, down 4.10% over 24 hours and up 0.54% over seven days.
These prices are Moneyiar data for the stated time and are separate from the prediction-market activity discussed above.
