ICE Posts Record Earnings, Doubles Down on Polymarket Data and 24/7 Onchain Markets

Intercontinental Exchange, the corporate behind the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), reported its strongest quarter in firm historical past on April 30. But buried within the ready remarks was one thing extra attention-grabbing than the document numbers: ICE founder, chair, and CEO Jeff Sprecher positioned prediction market information alongside different key macro indicators important for managing threat.

“New applied sciences comparable to tokenization and prediction markets are drawing elevated consideration,” Sprecher mentioned on the Q1 2026 earnings name. “We method these developments from first ideas. How is threat managed? How does settlement operate? From the place does trusted information originate? And how do individuals acquire regulated entry? Those questions matter whatever the kind that threat switch takes, and they’re questions that ICE has spent a long time studying easy methods to reply.”

ICE’s funding in and partnership with Polymarket goes past information to supporting the corporate’s push into 24/7 buying and selling of tokenized securities and speedy onchain settlement, announced in January. In February 2026, ICE launched the Polymarket Signals and Sentiment tool, offering normalized, structured prediction market information feeds delivered completely by means of ICE’s institutional information community. Sprecher additionally confirmed through the earnings name that “Polymarket’s engineering group is collaborating with us regarding on-chain settlement and 24/7 capital motion,” a reference to ICE’s broader push into tokenized securities.

The firm is constructing out its Polymarket play from a place of economic energy. NYSE: ICE posted document internet revenues of $3.0 billion (up 18% year-over-year), document adjusted earnings per share of $2.35 (up 37%), and document adjusted working revenue of $1.9 billion (up 26%) in Q1 2026. The firm additionally returned $848 million to shareholders within the quarter, together with $551 million in inventory buybacks.

ICE’s aim, as confirmed by Q1 earnings name remarks, is to construct the regulated infrastructure layer for a monetary system that’s shifting towards 24/7, onchain operation and settlement, and to be the supply of trusted information that system runs on.

Polymarket supporting ICE information alerts and blockchain push

ICE first introduced a strategic investment in Polymarket in October 2025, committing as much as $2 billion at a roughly $8 billion pre-money valuation. In March, it closed a $600 million follow-on funding, bringing its complete dedication to roughly $1.6 billion. ICE’s core thesis is that that is primarily a information play to bolster their current enterprise.

Institutional merchants have all the time had methods to cost what’s already occurred. What they’ve by no means had is a clear, structured, constantly updating feed of what refined crowds collectively imagine will occur, on elections, central financial institution choices, geopolitical occasions, and extra. That’s what Polymarket supplies. ICE takes that uncooked sign, normalizes it towards its current monetary information infrastructure, and delivers it by means of the identical pipes that carry securities pricing and company actions.

On the earnings call, President Ben Jackson named the product instantly in his ready remarks: “During the quarter, we launched our Polymarket Signals and Sentiment product, which normalized prediction market information for institutional workflows and is offered completely by means of ICE feeds. We are additionally incorporating extra correlated information units together with Reddit and Dow Jones content material to offer broader context round market sentiment and info stream.”

When Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Bedell requested instantly about what’s driving FIDS (Fixed Income and Data Services) recurring income progress, which has climbed from 5% to 9% YoY over the past 5 quarters, FIDS President Chris Edmonds pointed to Polymarket for example of the demand enlargement and seamless integration: “Our capacity to ship that in a means that’s not disruptive to the present operations of the shoppers that rely on us every day for that exercise.” In different phrases, ICE has been capable of combine Polymarket information into workflows shoppers already use.

Jackson additionally named a second, forward-looking worth stream past the info integration, with Sprecher confirming Polymarket’s blockchain-native engineering capabilities as a part of their very own construct towards blockchain-based buying and selling and settlement.

ICE constructing towards tokenization, 24/7 buying and selling and settlement

Polymarket is one necessary piece of what Sprecher laid out on the decision as ICE’s broader digital markets structure. The flagship initiative is a tokenized securities platform being constructed on the New York Stock Exchange. The thought is to mix the NYSE’s current high-velocity matching engine, the know-how that already handles billions of trades a day, with blockchain-based distribution and settlement, enabling 24/7 buying and selling.

Sprecher was specific that this doesn’t require any new laws: “We are pursuing regulatory approval below current federal legislation and this initiative will not be dependent on any pending laws.” ICE has additionally signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Securitize, naming them as the primary digital switch agent to assist tokenized safety issuance and lifecycle administration on the platform.

The most important good thing about tokenization, Sprecher mentioned in his Q&A reply to Morgan Stanley analyst Michael Cyprys, is basically altering how cash strikes. “The most important good thing about tokenization goes to be a rewiring of the motion of cash and worth and that primarily it’s going to permit that to occur on the Internet versus the traditional banking wires.”

Instead of transfers working by means of conventional banking programs, which function on enterprise hours, take days to settle, and require layers of intermediaries, worth strikes over the web, near-instantly, extra like an electronic mail. He pointed to fairness markets as a easy analogy: just a few years in the past, when the US inventory market shortened the time it takes to finalize a commerce from two enterprise days to at least one, buying and selling volumes went up.

“And all that to us implies that there’ll be extra quantity of buying and selling and transactions. When you make one thing simpler, folks do extra of it,” mentioned Sprecher. He additionally indicated a hybrid mannequin Sprecher’s that bridges typical infrastructure with an onchain settlement and possession switch layer:

“I believe that we’ll develop into a validator on-chain and equally have that enterprise…Right now, our mannequin is to hook our typical buying and selling platforms to the chain…matching will nonetheless occur on typical know-how, however title switch and custody and capital motion will transfer through the Internet by means of encrypted tokens.”

Polymarket and OKX: Complementary onchain partnerships

Polymarket and OKX are the 2 partnerships ICE named as reinforcing that new onchain structure from completely different angles.

OKX is a significant international crypto alternate with greater than 120 million customers. Its function within the ICE partnership is basically a two-way bridge: OKX’s crypto-native person base will get a pathway into ICE’s regulated markets together with US futures and, ultimately, NYSE tokenized equities. In return, ICE will get a pathway to launch regulated crypto futures tied to OKX spot costs. For ICE, it’s a buyer acquisition channel into a large viewers that doesn’t at present take part in its conventional markets. For OKX customers, it’s a regulated on-ramp to devices they couldn’t beforehand entry simply.

Polymarket’s function is completely different however complementary. On the info aspect, it’s already dwell with the Signals and Sentiment product delivering event-probability feeds to institutional shoppers now. On the infrastructure aspect, Sprecher confirmed a collaboration with Polymarket, which was constructed natively on blockchain. Its sensible contract structure and on-chain settlement expertise is strictly what ICE wants because it builds out the NYSE tokenized platform.

Sprecher pulled these threads collectively in his ready remarks: “These initiatives complement our core franchises as our middle of gravity stays the know-how that helps international threat switch, value discovery and capital formation.” Just as ICE has finished in typical markets, it’s now positioning to be the regulated infrastructure layer of onchain 24/7 capital markets.

The aggressive backdrop: Kalshi quantity, Polymarket’s regulatory path

That strategic dedication is value maintaining in thoughts when trying on the near-term aggressive image between Polymarket and Kalshi, which tells a extra combined story. Our April volume report reveals Kalshi posting a document $14.81 billion in notional buying and selling quantity in April, up 13.3% from March, whereas Polymarket fell 14.8% to $9.01 billion. The $5.8 billion month-to-month hole is the most important it’s been. Kalshi’s sports-dominated combine (~85% Sports + Combos) provides it a extra resilient flooring in a sports-heavy calendar. Polymarket’s heavier publicity to crypto and politics means extra macro occasion dependence.

On valuation, as we reported in April, Polymarket is reportedly weighing a new round at around $15 billion, a big enhance from its ~$9 billion post-money October 2025 degree, however trailing Kalshi, which has repriced to $22 billion throughout a number of fast fundraising rounds led by Paradigm and Coatue. That hole in successive repricing is rising.

But the amount and valuation snapshot doesn’t totally seize the place Polymarket is headed. Polymarket is reportedly in active discussions with the CFTC about bringing its major offshore platform again to U.S. customers, probably unifying its international alternate infrastructure with its current U.S. regulatory licenses. If that occurs, it will consolidate liquidity that’s at present cut up throughout two separate platforms and dramatically increase Polymarket’s addressable market. CFTC chair Michael Selig, who’s at present the company’s sole commissioner, has publicly signaled a need to convey offshore prediction market liquidity “again right here into the United States below complete regulation,” which opens the door. Whether the platform might obtain regulatory match and acquire approval from the CFTC is a separate query.

For ICE, Polymarket shifting towards full U.S. regulation can be a big growth. It would align Polymarket extra instantly with the regulated infrastructure mannequin ICE is constructing round it, and make the info and settlement collaboration significantly simpler to scale.

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