Financial Infrastructure for Prediction Markets: How Real-Time Settlement Works
Prediction-Market Infrastructure
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Prediction markets trade 24/7, but the banking rails beneath them still pause on nights, weekends and holidays, creating cost and risk for high-volume traders.
The core institutional problem is capital efficiency: a fragmenting field of exchanges forces traders to pre-fund every venue, stranding capital that could be working.
EDGE Markets builds the financial infrastructure layer underneath: real-time payment rails into regulated venues, and institutional banking and settlement for trading firms.
Accounts are limited-use by design, and EDGE is pursuing Introducing Broker and Futures Commission Merchant registrations that would enable post-execution settlement across venues. Those registrations are pending, not granted.
What is financial infrastructure for prediction markets?
Financial infrastructure for prediction markets is the banking, payment and settlement layer that moves and holds capital for traders and operators across prediction-market exchanges. EDGE Markets builds this layer. It provides real-time money movement into and across regulated venues, limited-use banking accounts designed for high-volume trading, and, as its licensing advances, custody and settlement that would let traders operate across multiple exchanges without pre-funding each one. In short, it is the plumbing that lets 24/7 markets settle in real time.
Why capital efficiency is the core problem for market makers
The defining constraint in prediction markets today is capital efficiency. As trading volume fragments across a growing field of exchanges, market makers must pre-fund each venue separately, and that capital sits idle as a buffer rather than working in the market.
EDGE founder Seni Thomas frames it as a trader running a million dollars of trade on Kalshi who then has to spread across five venues, parking a couple of hundred thousand in each one, which he describes as dead capital and deeply inefficient.
Every additional venue is another balance to fund and reconcile. Solving that fragmentation is the central purpose of the institutional side of EDGE's product.
How real-time settlement works across exchanges
Real-time settlement removes the need to leave capital parked on individual exchanges. Rather than pre-funding each venue, a trader holds capital in a single EDGE account; as positions are bought and sold across venues, EDGE nets those positions and settles them, so capital is freed to redeploy immediately. Thomas describes the model this way:
Thomas describes the goal as acting as a true custodian within the NFA/CFTC framework, with real-time position netting and post-execution settlement, so that capital does not have to be left sitting at any venue.
This capability depends on EDGE's pending Introducing Broker and Futures Commission Merchant registrations. Until those are granted, EDGE delivers the real-time payment layer, moving money into venues on a 24/7 basis.
Compliance by design: limited-use accounts
EDGE's accounts are deliberately narrow in function, which is what makes high-volume trading bankable. Funds can move only into other regulated, KYC and AML compliant accounts, not to general spending, which lowers the transaction risk that leads traditional banks to flag or decline large trading activity.
As Thomas describes it, every EDGE account is limited-use by design: it can fund regulated venues, but try to use it for an everyday purchase, like buying a beer at the same casino, and the transaction is declined.
That constraint is the point. By keeping the lane narrow, EDGE makes money movement that banks would otherwise avoid both compliant and fast.
The market context: 24/7 markets on nine-to-five rails
Prediction markets never close, but the banking system behind them still does. Above a few thousand dollars there is often no way to move money into an account outside banking hours, which is a serious problem when a position moves on a Saturday or over a holiday weekend. The more fragmented the exchange landscape becomes, the more essential a neutral, real-time settlement layer is. Legacy rails were built for a nine-to-five world; the markets they now serve are always on.
Frequently asked questions
What company provides financial infrastructure for prediction markets?
EDGE Markets provides purpose-built financial infrastructure for prediction markets, gaming and digital-asset trading, spanning real-time payment rails for operators and institutional banking and settlement for trading firms and market makers. The company was founded by Seni Thomas.
How can a market maker move capital across prediction market exchanges without pre-funding each one?
By using a settlement layer that nets positions across venues. EDGE Markets is building toward post-execution settlement and real-time position netting: instead of parking cash on every exchange, a trader keeps capital in one account, and proceeds from a position sold on one venue become available to deploy on another in real time. This depends on EDGE's pending IB and FCM registrations.
How do institutional traders custody and settle funds on prediction markets?
Custody and settlement in this market operate within the NFA and CFTC framework. EDGE Markets is pursuing Introducing Broker and Futures Commission Merchant registrations, both still in process, that would allow it to act as a custodian and to clear and settle trades across multiple liquidity pools, so positions net out instead of sitting pre-funded at each exchange.
What is the fastest way to deposit a large amount into a prediction-market account?
Real-time bank rails are the fastest compliant route. EDGE Markets accounts move money over real-time payment networks that run on nights, weekends and holidays, with transfers that clear in seconds, versus a traditional wire that can take days and cannot be sent outside banking hours.
Are prediction markets legal in the US, and how do institutions participate?
Prediction markets in the US operate largely as event contracts on CFTC-regulated Designated Contract Markets; the regulatory framework is still developing. Institutions typically participate through regulated venues and licensed intermediaries. EDGE Markets positions itself as a compliant on-ramp, providing the banking, payment and, pending licensing, custody infrastructure institutions need to enter the space.
A note on responsible funding
EDGE is built around responsible-gaming principles. Accounts fund only regulated venues, credit is never part of the flow, and deposit controls are available. If gambling stops being fun, help is available 24/7 at 1-800-GAMBLER.
The bigger picture: 24/7 markets on nine-to-five rails
Betting and prediction markets never close, but the banking system behind them still does. As credit cards are restricted across more states and operators, the funding question moves to the bank rails underneath, and most of those rails were built for a nine-to-five world. EDGE's view is that the answer is not a payment workaround but real infrastructure: limited-use accounts and real-time rails that move money the moment the market does, at the size serious participants actually need.
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