Polymarket will receive up to $2 billion from the operator of the New York Stock Exchange at an $8 billion valuation, the latest marker of the growing prominence of prediction markets in the U.S., despite controversy surrounding their sports event contracts.

Under the agreement, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) will make a “strategic investment” in Polymarket, which had been barred from operating in the U.S. since 2022 but is planning to relaunch in the country imminently. The deal implies a pre-investment valuation of $8 billion for Polymarket, according to Tuesday’s statement, and a $9 billion post-investment valuation, the company said in a social media post.

In addition to capital, ICE will provide financial institutions with insight into how users are trading on key issues based on Polymarket data, and the two sides intend to team up on future projects involving digital tokens.

Jeffrey Sprecher, chair and CEO of ICE, said in Tuesday’s statement that Polymarket is a “forward-thinking, revolutionary company pioneering change within the decentralized finance space.”

Polymarket has been a lightning rod for criticism dating back years. It was prohibited from operating in the U.S. under a 2022 settlement with the Biden Administration, but it has quickly taken steps to reenter the country after recently being cleared in a federal probe—including through the July acquisition of QCX, a small derivatives exchange that is licensed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The company is blockchain-based, requiring users to trade using cryptocurrencies. It counts Donald Trump Jr. as a strategic advisor.

Polymarket founder and CEO Shayne Coplan reflected on the long road his company has taken in a social media post, calling the last few years “surreal” and describing the deal with ICE as a “major step in bringing prediction markets into the financial mainstream.” He also said the agreement represents a “monumental step forward” for decentralized finance.

Prediction-market platforms like Polymarket and its primary rival, Kalshi, offer event contracts that allow users to trade on the outcome of events. These started as non-sports offerings, with events such as whether there will be a recession this year or how high the temperature will be in New York City on a given day. But starting in January, Kalshi began offering sports event contracts that appear very similar to sports betting. Polymarket also offers sports event contracts, with trades on everything from the NBA, NFL, and MLB to whether Elon Musk will attend a UFC event this year.

State regulators have pushed back, and Kalshi is fighting multiple court battles over its sports offerings. Traditional sportsbooks have also taken notice: Prediction markets are currently the talk of the town at the G2E event in Las Vegas, an annual global gaming expo; FanDuel entered prediction markets through a deal with CME Group (although there will be no sports to start); and Robinhood recently rolled out prediction markets that will allow users to trade on the outcomes of pro and college football games.

Representatives for ICE and Polymarket did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment.

Maverick Carter is no longer involved with the planned international basketball league that aims to disrupt the sport, multiple sources told Front Office Sports.

“Project B,” as it has been called behind the scenes for nearly two years, still plans to launch next fall with 5-on-5 men’s and women’s basketball leagues. Led by Skype cofounder Geoff Prentice and former Facebook executive Grady Burnett, the investor group also includes tennis stars Novak Djokovic and Sloane Stephens; former WNBA stars Candace Parker, Alana Beard, and Lauren Jackson; and ex-NFL quarterback Steve Young.

The group would not yet disclose the official name for the planned league.

Carter, the longtime business partner of LeBron James, was advising the group before. Over the summer, Carter was spotted on a boat in France with James and Miško Ražnatović, the European agent for Nikola Jokić; multiple sources told FOS that the meeting was about the project. Ražnatović declined to comment Tuesday on whether he is involved. Burnett, when asked about Ražnatović, said, “Miško is a good friend of ours. I was just in Serbia.”

A spokesperson for Carter confirmed he no longer has any role in the organization, formal or informal.

“This group came to Maverick for consultation, which he gave, and he subsequently stepped away months ago,” the spokesperson told FOS. “He is no longer working with them or any other basketball league in Europe.”

James, who was not part of the group when Carter was involved, has long been linked to a potential NBA expansion franchise in Las Vegas or elsewhere. NBA rules prohibit team owners from having any stakes in other men’s professional basketball leagues or teams.

Despite Carter’s exit, Project B is still on track, according to those still involved.

Beard, a four-time WNBA All-Star who won a championship with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2016, is a cofounder and chief basketball officer for the league.

Shortly after retiring from the WNBA in 2020, Beard joined venture capital firm SVB Capital as a senior associate. She has also been involved in an unsuccessful WNBA franchise bid to bring an expansion team to Oakland.

“I’ve always had my mind set on ownership,” she told FOS.

The venture plans to begin play next fall, with seasons expected to run through April. That would compete directly with the NBA calendar, but possibly not the WNBA, which plays in the summer. When asked about the league onstage last month at the FOS Tuned In summit in New York, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said, “To the extent they’re looking to do something competitive, I’ve stayed away. Obviously that’s their right, if they choose to form a league. I know firsthand it’s not easy running a league. But competition is good, it keeps everyone on their toes.”

Project B plans to host tournaments in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Like Unrivaled—the upstart 3-on-3 women’s basketball league based in the U.S.—it plans to give players equity, although specifics were not disclosed.

“We’re paying multiples higher than is available right now in the world of women’s sports,” Burnett told FOS. “We are paying the highest salaries and equity packages in women’s team sports, and this will be some of the best players in the world. We want this to be incredible basketball.”

The group was seeking $5 billion in funding, Bloomberg reported in January. It declined to share how much funding it has actually raised.

Project B has not yet announced who will play in the league, but a spokesperson for the venture says they have “secured commitments from some of the game’s most respected athletes,” including at least one current WNBA player the league will not yet name.

“This is not a gimmick,” Beard told FOS. “We’re playing five-on-five, we’re playing elite basketball. We want the best of the best playing in our league. That’s a full stop.”

In addition to Beard, Prentice, Burnett, Parker, Djokovic, and Young, Project B says it has backing from investment firms Quiet Capital, Sequence Equity, and Mangrove Capital. Sequence Equity cofounder Marcus Stroud declined to disclose the size of their investment but called it “our biggest investment to date.”

Burnett, who played tennis at Michigan with Prentice, said Project B is starting in basketball but aims to duplicate the model in other sports. Burnett, Beard, and others involved in Project B all emphasized the importance of the athletes having equity in the league.

“The players are our partners, they’re one of our largest stakeholders,” Beard said. “They are creating value, and getting paid for that value.”

Venture capital firm Sharp Alpha Advisors has previously put money into sports-themed social clubs Ballers and Poolhouse, as well as SlamBall—the full-contact basketball-football hybrid played on trampolines. 

Now, armed with a fresh $150 million to deploy over the next two years, the firm intends to target consumer-facing businesses in online gaming, prediction markets, sports media, and more. The new fund will use an investment structure distinct from Sharp Alpha’s previous funds, Front Office Sports has learned. 

The fund, Sharp Alpha UA Fund I, will offer “non-dilutive” capital, or deals that don’t involve portfolio companies giving up equity, a spokesperson for the firm tells FOS. The idea is that the fund will find companies that are either profitable or close to breaking even and are ripe for customer growth. Following the investment, Sharp Alpha will recoup its money from the revenue generated by new customers it helped bring in.

The $150 million comes from a “large institutional partner,” although the spokesperson declined to say who it is at this time. Sharp Alpha is not seeking additional investor funds for now. The fund will be managed by Sharp Alpha’s Lloyd Danzig, alongside a group of individuals who come from areas like direct lending, institutional credit, quantitative finance, and consumer growth equity.

Individual investments will range between $4 million and $30 million, with the potential for additional investment once a relationship has been established. The fund will focus on businesses based in the U.S., even if those companies generate their revenue elsewhere in the world. In addition to online gaming, prediction markets and sports media, the fund will target investments in areas like e-commerce, health and wellness, and interactive entertainment.

The new fund comes a few months after Sharp Alpha co-led a $20 million investment into Ballers, which describes itself as a “first-of-its-kind hospitality-driven social sports venue.” That investment round also featured athletes like tennis legend Andre Agassi, NBA star Tyrese Maxey, and MLS goalkeeper Maarten Paes. The flagship Ballers location, in Philadelphia’s Turbine Hall, opened last month.

This represents the third fund under the Sharp Alpha umbrella, although the first two funds provided target companies with equity checks. 

In addition to Ballers, Poolhouse, and SlamBall, Sharp Alpha has invested in Jackpot.com, which allows consumers to buy state lottery tickets using an app, as well as GridRival, a fan engagement platform for motorsports, and micro-betting company Kero Sports.