The odds of President Joe Biden finishing his tenure dropped dramatically on a cryptocurrency-based prediction market as the 81-year-old announced withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race.
What Happened: Polymarket, touted as the world’s largest prediction market, saw odds of Biden completing the rest of his term dip from 75% to 68% in the last 24 hours.
The odds were stacked in Biden’s favor until June 27, with over 90% chance of finishing the tenure. However, the below-par performance by the incumbent during the debate, caused cryptocurrency bettors to go the other way.
Meanwhile, despite Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee, the odds of Republican challenger Donald Trump winning the elections remained broadly unchanged in the last 24 hours at 64%.
At the time of writing, Harris’ odds of victory stood at 30%.
Launched in 2020, Polymarket is a decentralized prediction market that allows users to bet on major global events using cryptocurrencies. The platform has rapidly emerged as one of the world’s top prediction markets for U.S. elections. However, it currently does not allow users based in the U.S. to place trades based on its predictions.
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Why It Matters: Biden’s decision follows weeks of speculation about his health and the capacity to campaign effectively against Trump. A poor performance at the presidential debate brought these concerns to the forefront of political conversation.
Cryptocurrency bettors have been betting against Biden for quite some time, and even before the formal announcement, the odds of him pulling out of the race soared.
Donald Trump’s candidacy, to the contrary, has gained support from cryptocurrency enthusiasts due to his newfound interest in the asset class, even positioning himself as the “crypto president.”
Price Action: At the time of writing, the coin themed around Joe Biden, JEO BODEN BODEN/USD was trading at $0.008428, following a free fall of 60% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
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