Meta is Building "Arena" Prediction Market App

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has directed staff to build Arena, an experimental app for forecasting outcomes in politics, sports, entertainment and world affairs, according to The New York Times. The standalone product would sit outside Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp as Meta studies emerging online behavior.

Arena would likely use a video game-like points system instead of cash, though Meta has not ruled out eventual real-money betting. The design borrows from Polymarket and Kalshi, whose markets helped turn event forecasting into a multi-billion-dollar business with global users and heavyweight private valuations.

The push revives Meta’s earlier Forecast experiment, which launched in 2020 and shut down in 2022 after testing predictions around current events and pandemic-era trends. Insiders described Arena as both experimental and a top priority, showing Zuckerberg’s interest in social products beyond feeds and messaging.

The timing is uncomfortable because prediction markets face growing regulatory heat over gambling, political contracts and insider-trading concerns. Polymarket also faces a Wall Street Journal report alleging paid creators staged fake bets, while Kalshi and Polymarket fight state-level restrictions, jurisdiction bans and sharper disclosure pressure.

US Senate Passes 85-5 Bill With CBDC Ban

The US Senate passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act 85-5, sending a bipartisan housing package toward the House with a digital-dollar freeze inside. The provision would bar the Federal Reserve from issuing or creating a central bank digital currency through the end of 2030.

The ban carves out private stablecoins and would still require explicit congressional approval once the freeze expires. Supporters framed the bill around housing supply, while House conservatives pushed for a permanent CBDC block as Europe and China continue advancing state-backed digital currency programs outside Washington’s retreat.

Polymarket Videos Showed $1.9 Million Fake Bets

A Wall Street Journal investigation found Polymarket paid mostly college-age creators to film fake bets on near-identical copies of its website. The review covered 1,105 videos from 10 creators, found wagers in about 70% of clips, and said none of roughly $1.9 million displayed was real.

Creators allegedly earned $2,000 to $3,000 monthly and targeted US audiences despite Polymarket’s main site remaining geoblocked there. The report lands as regulators probe whether event contracts resemble gambling, with Kentucky and other states challenging prediction-market platforms over sports wagering, political markets and creator disclosures.

OKX Warns 80% of Exchanges Face MiCA

OKX Europe CEO Erald Ghoos said about 80% of crypto exchanges will not survive MiCA as Europe’s July 1 deadline closes. ESMA requires unlicensed firms to stop serving EU clients once national transition periods expire, forcing platforms into authorization, migration or shutdown decisions across the bloc.

Ghoos said 60% of European crypto users remain on platforms without MiCA approval, while more than 200 providers have full authorization. He urged users to check ESMA’s register before the deadline, warning late moves could bring withdrawal freezes and abrupt operational friction for customers holding funds.

Data of the Day

Tokenized real-world assets have topped $51 billion in market cap, up 40% this year, even as broader crypto has fallen roughly 20%, Bernstein said. Private credit leads the category, while US Treasurys, commodities, Ethereum and Provenance anchor most activity across institutional platforms, assets and ledgers.

Equity tokenization has grown 130% this year to $1.6 billion, with firms splitting between broker-held trading tokens and blockchain-native settlement infrastructure. Bernstein highlighted Figure, Bullish, Securitize and Coinbase, while monthly tokenized equity transfers reached a $5.3 billion run rate in June across competing trading platforms.

More Breaking News

• Taiko urged users to withdraw bridge funds after a verification breach, while BlockSec estimated more than $1.7 million stolen through fraudulent proofs and exposed SGX keys.
• The SEC’s delay on tokenized stocks drew relief from compliance experts warning real-time equity settlement needs contextual risk systems, not checkbox monitoring, before scaling.
• The Ethereum Foundation cut 54 jobs, about 20% of staff, as it reorganizes into focused clusters after months of leadership exits and treasury changes.
• Trump signed quantum orders targeting a 2028 federal milestone and faster post-quantum cryptography migration as Bitcoin holders face future encryption risk from Q-Day threats.
• Tether-backed Oobit connected USDT spending to Brazil’s PIX network, giving nearly 170 million users a familiar route into dollar-backed payments through instant reais deposits.
• Kalshi added India to 55 restricted jurisdictions after authorities warned VPN providers against helping users access blocked betting and prediction-market platforms amid global scrutiny.
• New York’s Noman Saleem received 15 months in prison for impersonating crypto influencers and collecting more than $1.4 million through bogus staking reward promises.
• THORChain restored swaps and liquidity actions after a $10.7 million exploit, vault migrations and node keyshare checks across its cross-chain network security overhaul process.
• Ark Invest bought about $32.5 million of SpaceX shares across four ETFs after SPCX plunged 16.43% and erased much of its post-debut rally gains.

For the latest updates on digital asset markets, follow us on X @Datawalletcom.