The prediction market platform Polymarket has appointed Lisa Mantil, who has nearly 30 years of experience at Goldman Sachs, as the head of institutional growth, aiming to channel Wall Street funds into the platform and expand its institutional business. The company officially announced this appointment on Tuesday after confirming it to CNBC.

Mantil was previously a partner at Goldman Sachs and served as the global head of the ETF Accelerator, responsible for helping clients bring investment products to market. She stated that joining Polymarket presents an opportunity to participate in the shaping of an asset class at a turning point, and she will continue to help institutions adopt new products and enter new markets, embedding prediction contracts into investment and risk management. Founder and CEO Shayne Coplan noted that Mantil's experience and relationships in the institutional space are sufficient to support the next phase of expansion, revealing that this is Mantil's second employer in her career, and the two were introduced by Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon.

Since its official launch on the US exchange in May, Polymarket has been continuously expanding, having appointed Warren Jenson, who previously worked at Amazon, Delta Airlines, and Nielsen, as CFO earlier this month. The prediction market was primarily driven by retail investors betting on sports-related contracts, but platforms are now shifting to compete for institutional liquidity. Kalshi completed the industry's first large transaction in April; Polymarket's international platform subsequently completed its first large transaction and partnered with crypto prime broker FalconX to handle over-the-counter large orders.

Brokerages working with early institutional clients stated that the company is also discussing conducting large transactions on a regulated platform in the US, with related capabilities nearing readiness, though Polymarket did not comment on specific progress. Institutional adoption is still in its early stages, with some funds waiting due to disputes between states and the platform over regulatory authority for sports event contracts. Mantil's product direction is set to serve banks, asset management, and corporate clients for pricing and hedging related to elections, interest rates, and geopolitical events.

Mechanically, this represents a liquidity upgrade following the retail market: the buyers are institutions needing large transactions, dark pool execution, and compliant product packaging, while the sellers are prediction exchanges turning event contracts into hedging tools. Funds are shifting from sports retail to risk management accounts for elections, interest rates, and macro events. The beneficiaries are platforms that first establish large transaction channels and Wall Street relationships, while the pressured parties are similar platforms still relying on retail order books and unable to handle block trades; regulatory tug-of-war will determine whether this institutional capital remains on international chains or enters US compliant markets.

Source: Public Information