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Polymarket Nails NYC Democratic Mayoral Primary Upset, Nears $1B Unicorn Valuation

by admin June 25, 2025

In brief

Blockchain-based prediction platform Polymarket correctly predicted the surprise victory of Zohran Mamdani in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary.
Traders pivoted sharply to Mamdani following an Emerson poll.
Polymarket is reportedly closing in on a $200 million funding round at a valuation north of $1 billion, led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.

New York City wakes up Wednesday morning to a surprise: Zohran Mamdani has won the Democratic mayoral primary. While pollsters initially dismissed the progressive candidate, punters on blockchain-based prediction platform Polymarket correctly called his victory ahead of official confirmation.

Before Tuesday’s vote, conventional polls favored former Governor Andrew Cuomo.

But sentiment among participants on Polymarket shifted rapidly toward Mamdani, after an Emerson College poll released Monday morning highlighted his strength in ranked-choice voting scenarios.

BREAKING: POLYMARKET PROJECTS ZOHRAN MAMDANI AS WINNER OF NYC DEM MAYORAL PRIMARY.

99% chance.

— Polymarket (@Polymarket) June 25, 2025

Polymarket wasn’t alone in responding to the Emerson poll results. Kalshi, another prominent prediction market, reacted even faster, initially showing Cuomo with higher odds before sharply pivoting toward Mamdani in response to the poll.

Kalshi, which does not utilize blockhain infrastructure, reacted to the Emerson College poll with a sharper and faster swing than Polymarket. On Kalshi, Andrew Cuomo’s odds dropped from over 70% to 46% within hours of the poll’s release, while Mamdani surged from 27.2% to parity, according to data on Kalshi, which showed Cuomo at 73% as the poll went out.

By election morning, both platforms had converged on a near-certain Mamdani victory, ahead of official confirmation.

It’s been 45 minutes since Kalshi called it and mainstream media still hasn’t

Lesson in there

— Kalshi (@Kalshi) June 25, 2025

One of the biggest winners was a Polymarket user known as “GayPride,” who wagered $132,926 on Mamdani at 49.2% odds. The bet paid out approximately $268,000, illustrating both the high-stakes nature and earning potential of decentralized prediction markets.

Polymarket’s success with forecasting Mamdani’s surprise victory has reignited interest in its predictive capabilities; last year, it correctly predicted that Donald Trump would win the U.S. presidential election.

Polymarket’s $200m funding round

Polymarket’s latest win comes as the company closes in on a $200 million funding round at a valuation north of $1 billion, according to separately sourced reports from Reuters and Bloomberg on Tuesday.

The raise is reportedly being led by Founders Fund, the venture firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, known for early investments in Palantir, Meta, and OpenAI, as well as backing frontier projects like Sentient, an open-source AI initiative.

The vote of confidence from institutional backers like Founders Fund signals growing acceptance of blockchain-powered prediction platforms such as Polymarket.

Alex Solleiro, co-founder of DASTAN, the company behind both Decrypt and decentralized prediction market Myriad (which did not run a market on this particular election), commented on the significance of Polymarket’s achievement.

“Prediction markets once again show that they can break the news faster than media and predict elections better than polls and experts,” Solleiro said. “We have entered a new era in how information is sourced, shared, and incentivized.”

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June 25, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

NYC proposes 5 percent raise for rideshare drivers in a bid to appease Uber and Lyft

by admin June 20, 2025

New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) have settled on new minimum-wage rules for rideshare drivers, Bloomberg reports. Drivers will receive a five percent raise under the new proposal, a compromise to keep Uber and Lyft from locking drivers out of their apps.

The proposal needs to be voted on by the TLC’s board of commissioners before it goes into effect, but assuming it does, it’ll end months of uncertainty for drivers working in the city. Uber began sporadically locking drivers out of its app in May 2024, preventing them taking rides and earning money. The company was blocking access to its app to avoid having to pay drivers who were working but not actively taking rides. Besides introducing a minimum wage for drivers that started around $18 per hour in 2022, New York also included stipulations in its law that required drivers be paid for the downtime between rides, something Uber and Lyft naturally had a problem with.

Bloomberg writes that the TLC initially proposed a 6.1 percent raise in an attempt to disincentivize Uber and Lyft from locking drivers out. The proposal would adjust how driver pay is calculated, in exchange for an upfront raise and a guarantee that drivers are warned before they lose access to a rideshare app. Settling on a five percent raise and a commitment to not raise wages yearly and instead based “changing industry dynamics,” is a further capitulation. One that’s still not enough for Lyft, apparently. The company told Bloomberg that, “while these changes are a step in the right direction, we still have concerns that the underlying pay formula will still deprive drivers of earning opportunities, drive up prices for riders and reduce ride availability.”

Uber and Lyft have long had a contentious relationship with city and state governments over driver protections. In comparison to the passing of Prop 22 in California, which reclassified gig workers as contractors after another law did the opposite, even a diminished minimum wage law in New York is better than nothing.

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June 20, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Palantir’s CEO Throws Money Behind Andrew Cuomo in NYC Mayoral Race

by admin June 18, 2025

Alex Karp, the billionaire CEO of creepy defense contractor Palantir, has taken a side in New York’s closely watched mayoral race. Karp, who once bragged that his company kills people, recently gave a large sum of money to a Super PAC that is supporting the campaign of former New York governor Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo is currently running against Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old assemblyman for the city’s 36th district in Queens. The race between the two candidates has become a referendum on New York’s future, with both candidates offering drastically different visions for housing and economic policy. Mamdani has described himself as a democratic socialist, while Cuomo is campaigning on a promise to bring sensible centrism back to the city after the fiasco that has been Eric Adams’s administration.

Politico notes that Karp recently donated $90,000 to Fix the City, which is backing Cuomo’s campaign. The contribution further cements a picture of Karp’s politics that leans rightward, though Karp has, in the past, referred to himself by a variety of political labels—even calling himself a “socialist” or a “neo-Marxist.” We can surely call BS on that now, since Karp is currently using his money to defeat an actual socialist.

Indeed, Karp is just one of several billionaires who are pouring money into Cuomo’s campaign in an apparent effort to stave off a more populist form of government in the city. Despite Cuomo’s promise to fight Trump, a number of MAGA fixtures, like Trump fan Bill Ackman, have thrown their support behind the former governor. Cuomo’s campaign has rested on a series of vague promises about improvements for city services and the bragging point that he “knows how government works.” Of course, NYC is a city where Republicans have a tough time in modern politics, so the Democratic primary is where the action is.

Mamdani, meanwhile, has championed many leftist economic policies, including the establishment of government-owned and operated supermarkets to bring down food prices. He has also championed rent freezes in a city where the cost of living just keeps going up. His critics have noted that Mamdani has substantially less government experience than Cuomo and, prior to his political career, was a rapper for several years known as “Mr. Cardamom.”

Cuomo notably served as the governor of New York from 2011 until 2021, when his administration combusted as a result of several scandals, including allegations of sexual harassment leveled against him by former female aides. A criminal case against Cuomo was brought over the allegations, but the charges were dropped in January of 2022, with authorities citing a lack of evidence.

Palantir, meanwhile, has increasingly wedded itself to the Trump administration and is assisting the government with its deportation efforts, as well as in a controversial data centralization effort that has drawn criticism from privacy and civil liberties advocates.

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June 18, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

Alleged NYC Bitcoin Kidnappers Plead Not Guilty, Claim Accuser Was ‘Laughing and Smiling’

by admin June 12, 2025

In brief

Two men alleged to have kidnapped and tortured a man for his crypto pleaded not guilty in NYC on Wednesday.
The pair’s lawyers allege the accuser was free to move about on days he was allegedly captured.
The case is the latest in a string of high-profile crypto “wrench attacks” this year.

Two men alleged to have kidnapped and tortured a man for access to his Bitcoin pleaded not guilty on Wednesday, with their respective lawyers saying the accuser could move freely throughout New York on the days he was allegedly held captive.

Lawyers for William Duplessie and John Woeltz said the unidentified accuser can be seen in videos “laughing and smiling,” and smoking crack cocaine and participating in group sex, according to a report from the Associated Press.

“The story that he is selling doesn’t make sense,” Sam Talkin, Duplessie’s lawyer said in criminal court on Wednesday, the AP reported.

The lawyer for Woeltz added that witnesses told him the accuser moved about freely, contrary to accusations that he was held captive and tortured.

Woeltz was initially arrested and charged in late May, after the accuser allegedly escaped a Manhattan townhouse where he said he was held. According to prosecutors at the time, the alleged victim was bound, beaten, and electrocuted as the captors attempted to gain access to his crypto.

Assistant District Attorney Sarah Khan said that videos were leaked to try and present a counter-narrative indicating that the accuser was not permitted to leave the house freely as the defendant’s lawyers claim, according to the AP report

Police found evidence like a chainsaw and loaded pistol, which help corroborate the accuser’s story, alongside photos of him with a gun to his head and one where he is being set on fire, according to multiple reports. No burn marks were found on the alleged victim because the defendants quickly extinguished the flames, sometimes by urinating on him, per the AP.

Prosecutors additionally believe there may be two additional victims in other locations, and that the defendants have held people against their will before.

The pair, who were charged with first-degree kidnapping, assault, and more, could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted. They were denied bail and will be detained until their next court appearance on July 15.

A third person was arrested and charged in connection to the plot, but later released.

Physical attacks and kidnappings of crypto investors have become more high-profile this year, with perpetrators targeting individuals like Ledger CEO David Balland and the family of Paymium CEO and co-founder, Pierre Noizat.

A database of crypto “wrench attacks,” or physical altercations devised to steal someone’s crypto, already showcases nearly as many attacks in 2025 as the entirety of 2024.

Edited by James Rubin

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June 12, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

NYC Comptroller Slams Mayor Eric Adams’ Bitcoin Bond Plan as ‘Fiscally Irresponsible’

by admin June 2, 2025

New York City’s Comptroller has dismissed a plan by Mayor Eric Adams to back municipal bonds with bitcoin

, calling it “legally dubious and fiscally irresponsible.”

Comptroller Brad Lander, who co-manages the city’s debt issuance, rejected the proposal just days after Adams pitched the so-called “BitBond” to a crowd at a bitcoin conference in Las Vegas.

“Cryptocurrencies are not sufficiently stable to finance our city’s infrastructure, affordable housing, or schools,” Lander said in a press release. He added that such a move could shake investor confidence and run afoul of federal tax law.

The idea is part of Adams’ broader push to position New York as a global crypto hub. Since taking office, he has converted paychecks into crypto and launched a digital asset advisory council.

But Lander pushed back against the bond, which could use some of the proceeds to buy BTC. He argued that the city’s borrowing system is grounded in the U.S. dollar, and any deviation would require mechanisms that the city doesn’t have, like converting bitcoin into cash for public spending.

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June 2, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

New York unveils details for its first annual NYC Video Game Festival

by admin May 29, 2025

Cities around the world have been showing their enthusiasm for gaming as an educational tool, and New York City is helping to lead that charge with its first annual NYC Video Game Festival on Saturday, May 31. The day-long event will feature esports competitions, arcades, and indie game demos, all taking place at Convene Brookfield Place in lower Manhattan.

The NYC Video Game Festival will also host the finals of the fifth-annual Minecraft Education Battle of the Boroughs Esports competition. The competition has fostered creativity among the school kids of New York City as they’re tasked with solving some of the city’s challenges using the tools within Minecraft. For example, last year, kids were tasked with designing a new Brooklyn Army Terminal Climate Innovation Hub.

Each borough of New York City will be sending three finalist teams (representing elementary, middle, and high school) for a total of 15 teams competing.

In addition to the Minecraft competition, New York-based colleges will be sending their best and brightest Fortnite and Valorant players to compete in the 2025 Collegiate Championship. One of the teams competing is The Quad Gods, the world’s first all-quadriplegic esports team, which was recently featured in an HBO Documentary.

The May 31 event is just the beginning, as New York City is planning on hosting a variety of gaming events over the next several months as part of its NYC Summer of Games initiative. A full rundown of all of this summer’s events can be found here.

Polygon is thrilled to partner with New York City as part of this event, which has allowed kids to really prove that games have the ability to solve real-life challenges. We hope to see you there!

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May 29, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

Crypto Investor Charged With Kidnapping, Torturing Man in NYC Over Bitcoin Password

by admin May 26, 2025

In brief

A crypto investor was arrested in NYC for kidnapping and torturing a man for access to his Bitcoin wallet.
The victim escaped after weeks of captivity in an upscale Manhattan apartment.
It comes amid a growing trend in violent ‘wrench attacks’ worldwide.

A crypto investor has been arrested and charged with kidnapping and torturing another man in a violent bid to obtain access to his Bitcoin wallet, prosecutors said Saturday, according to a Saturday report by the Associated Press.

John Woeltz, 37, was taken into custody Friday night after his alleged victim escaped a luxury Manhattan townhouse where he had been held captive for weeks. According to prosecutors, the man was bound, beaten, drugged, and electrocuted as part of a prolonged attempt to force him to give up his password.

The victim, a 28-year-old Italian national, arrived in New York in early May and was abducted on May 6. He eventually managed to escape on Friday after pretending to retrieve his password from another room.

Woeltz was arraigned Saturday on charges of kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment, and weapons possession, and was ordered to be held without bail.

Prosecutors said Woeltz was not acting alone, citing an “unapprehended male” co-conspirator. A search of the property revealed cocaine, a saw, chicken wire, night vision goggles and Polaroids of the victim with a gun to his head.

Increasing threats to crypto participants

As digital assets grow in value and profile, criminals are increasingly turning to violence to bypass encryption and obtain access to people’s wallets through brute force.

The incident highlights a disturbing trend in so-called “wrench attacks,” physical assaults designed to forcibly extract cryptocurrency credentials from victims.

Security experts have noted an uptick in such incidents in 2025. Jameson Lopp, CTO of security firm Casa, has tracked at least 26 physical crypto-related attacks this year alone, ranging from kidnappings to home invasions.

Among them, the daughter of a French crypto executive was targeted alongside her child in an attempted abduction last week.

Also, earlier this month, an American tourist was drugged by a fake Uber driver who emptied $123,000 from his crypto wallets.

In January, Ledger co-founder David Balland had his finger severed during a ransom attempt. Several other attacks in France also featured the victim losing a finger.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair

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May 26, 2025 0 comments