Polymarket US launches five-minute contracts on four cryptocurrencies

Polymarket US, the domestic platform of prediction market operator Polymarket, launched five-minute event contracts on four cryptocurrencies earlier this week, according to a report. The contracts cover Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and XRP and use up-or-down, yes/no outcomes, with automatic resolution.

The contracts are resolved automatically using data from Chainlink, according to the report. The launch comes nearly three months after Polymarket changed rules on settlement of timed cryptocurrency derivatives, including a shift to time-weighted average price (TWAP) settlement rather than a single price snapshot.

Polymarket's international prediction market introduced five-minute crypto event contracts in February, the report said. The report stated that volume generated in six months was about $4bn, and that the previous settlement methodology had flaws that allowed results to flip shortly before contracts expired.

With the addition, Polymarket US offers yes/no digital currency derivatives at five-minute, 15-minute, hourly, daily, weekly and monthly intervals, according to the report. At the time of writing, the platform listed 18 markets on Bitcoin and 10 each on the other three digital currencies, the report said.

The report said turnover in cryptocurrency event contracts rose 44-fold in the first seven months of 2026. It also said critics argue that combining crypto and event contracts amounts to gambling in disguise and entices novice traders to part with their capital.

By market capitalisation, Bitcoin and Ether hold the top two spots among digital currencies, the report said, placing XRP fifth and Solana seventh on the same metric. The report added that most Polymarket traders are newcomers to crypto, for whom the prediction market serves as their first encounter with the asset class.