Author: William M. Peaster, Bankless; Translator: Wuzhu, Golden Finance
Everyone has been keeping a close eye on decentralized prediction markets this year, thanks to the breakout success of Polymarket.
While Polymarket is a leader in the space, with monthly volume, active users, and open interest statistics currently near all-time highs amid the excitement of the 2024 presidential election, there are other players to watch.
If you’re a Solana user, then you should check out BET!
Last week, the popular Solana decentralized exchange Drift announced the launch of BET, or “Bullish on Everything,” a capital-efficient prediction market built on the Drift protocol.
What is the grand vision? Providing a prediction market where users can take advantage of Solana’s signature speed and low costs while earning yield on their underlying positions before the outcome of an event is known.
In addition, BET has also gone broad in token support. While Polymarket is centered around USDC trading, BET supports trading with over 30 different cryptocurrencies, including stablecoins and Solana Liquidity Staking Tokens (LST).
At the outset, BET is launching with a few markets centered around the upcoming US election, such as, will Kamala Harris win the popular vote in 2024? Going forward, Drift will be adding more market categories, such as sports, and moving toward fully permissionless markets.
That being said, if you’re interested in trying these first markets for yourself, head over to app.drift.trade/bet and connect your Solana wallet. At this point, you’ll need to fund and create an account. Choose your preferred deposit method and approve account creation, which costs around 0.03 SOL.
After that, you can click on one of the available markets on the BET platform to dive in. First, take note of the market’s “Settlement Date” so you know how long it will last. Then head over to the “Markets” tab and select “Bet Yes” or “Bet No” depending on your prediction.
Now, it's time to determine the size of your trade. In the trading interface, enter the number of Yes or No shares you would like to acquire using the "Cost Per Share" indicator to help you make your decision. Once you're done, the interface will display additional information such as your potential profit and how much FUEL you will receive.
If everything looks good, press the final "BET" button and complete the purchase transaction using your wallet. That's all!
Once you've locked in your position, you can use the "Position" tab below the market interface to monitor the performance of your bet or close it early before the settlement date. Here you'll also find the "Balance" tab for depositing, withdrawing, exchanging or transferring your assets as needed.
You can do some more advanced things with BET, like place limit orders, and there are some other services you might be interested in, like staking DRIFT to earn extra FUEL. But the walkthrough above shows that even just the basics here are straightforward and compelling.
Of course, Polymarket has laid out the blueprint for how on-chain prediction markets can gain widespread popularity; the question now is whether BET can match (or exceed) Polymarket's success by following a similar strategy and combining its own twist.