The line between speculation and information just got thinner. Google is rolling out a new feature that lets users tap directly into prediction market data — the collective bets and probabilities set by real traders — without leaving the search bar.
Soon, typing a question like “Who’s likely to win the U.S. election?” or “What are the odds of a rate cut in December?” may yield not just headlines, but live market odds powered by Polymarket and Kalshi.
This move brings a once niche, crypto-linked corner of finance into the global mainstream, effectively turning prediction markets into a public forecasting engine available to anyone with a browser.
From Crypto Side Project to Billion-Dollar Business
Polymarket, long associated with the blockchain ecosystem, has quietly grown into a heavyweight. The company’s latest funding round included backing from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the operator behind the New York Stock Exchange, lifting its valuation to roughly $9 billion.
Kalshi, its biggest rival, has charted a similar trajectory. The platform recently secured $300 million in new funding, bringing its valuation to $5 billion — a sign that traditional finance is increasingly comfortable with the idea of crowd-sourced prediction models.
Both platforms have seen explosive activity this fall. Polymarket’s monthly volume, trader count, and number of active markets all hit record highs in October. Meanwhile, Kalshi’s leadership has been vocal about expanding access, with plans to bring its markets into “every major crypto exchange and app” within the next year.
A Broader Vision for Crowd Intelligence
Analysts say the trend points to a major shift in how information itself is valued. According to a note from Bernstein Research, prediction markets are evolving from speculative tools into real-time information networks — covering everything from elections and sports outcomes to macroeconomic policy and entertainment trends.
By partnering with Google, both Polymarket and Kalshi are effectively moving beyond trading desks into the information economy, where collective market sentiment can inform journalism, AI models, and public decision-making.
Search Becomes a Forecasting Tool
Google has framed the rollout as an experiment for Labs users, describing it as a way to “harness the wisdom of the crowds.” Over the next several weeks, the company will test how prediction data appears within Search, displaying current probabilities alongside historical shifts in sentiment.
If successful, the feature could permanently change how people consume data — allowing markets, not pundits, to define what the world collectively expects to happen next.
The New Information Age
Prediction markets have long been celebrated by economists as near-perfect aggregators of knowledge — pricing in expectations faster than traditional polling or expert analysis ever could. But until now, they’ve largely lived in crypto-native spaces or financial platforms.
Google’s embrace signals something bigger: the beginning of prediction markets as public infrastructure, embedded directly into the internet’s main gateway for information.
For Polymarket and Kalshi, the partnership marks the moment their data stops being a curiosity for traders and becomes a lens through which billions of users might soon view the future.