Paradigm Co-Founder Exposes Polymarket Data Inaccuracy

Matt Huang, co-founder of Paradigm, shared research on X suggesting trading data inflation in Polymarket, potentially impacting analytics industry-wide and happening amid Paradigm's interest in competitor Kalshi.

The revelation raises questions about data accuracy, potentially affecting Polymarket's market valuation and emphasizing scrutiny in prediction markets as they mature.

Paradigm's co-founder, Matt Huang, has identified a possible data aggregation bug in Polymarket's trading volumes, potentially overstating metrics by 100%. This issue arose from a technical flaw in how smart contract events are counted.

Matt Huang reposted research by on-chain analyst Storm Slivkoff showing the flaw in Polymarket's volume reporting. This has sparked debate within the industry due to Paradigm's investment in Kalshi, a major competitor.

This potential error impacts prediction market valuations, as the perceived trading activity might have been inflated. Consequently, analytics platforms relying on these metrics could provide inaccurate assessments.

The possible financial implications are significant, with Polymarket aiming for a $12-15 billion valuation. Industry-wide data platforms might have inherited this bug, affecting trader and investor decisions.

The controversy underlines the challenges faced by prediction markets in maintaining data accuracy, with historical precedents showing similar issues. The regulatory bodies have not yet pursued this specific incident but maintain broad scrutiny on such matters.

Potential outcomes include increased regulatory attention towards data transparency and a push for more robust technological solutions. Further industry scrutiny may follow, potentially influencing market transparency standards globally.

Matt Huang, Co-founder, Paradigm, commented on the industry-wide implications of the issue: "The issue is not limited to Polymarket’s own dashboards. Most external dashboards relying on the same raw feeds likely inherited the same miscalculation, spreading inaccurate figures industry-wide" - source