Shayne Coplan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1998 (age 27–28) New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | New York University (dropped out) |
| Occupations | Entrepreneur, technologist |
| Years active | 2020–present |
| Known for | Founder and CEO of Polymarket |
Shayne Coplan (born 1998) is an American entrepreneur and technologist, best known as the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based prediction market. [1] [2] In October 2025, he became the world's youngest self-made billionaire according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index , with a net worth of US$1.0 billion according to Forbes . [3]
Shayne Coplan was born in 1998 and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. [1] [4] He was raised by his mother and attended public schools in Hell's Kitchen. [1]
As a teenager, Coplan learned computer programming and in 2014 participated in the initial coin offering of Ethereum, acquiring the cryptocurrency when it cost only around $0.30 per token. [1] This early investment introduced him to the world of cryptocurrency and provided seed funding for his future ventures. Coplan studied computer science at New York University, but left during his freshman year to pursue his growing interest in blockchain technology and prediction markets. [1] [4]
Inspired by economist Friedrich Hayek’s theories on decentralized information and by professor Robin Hanson’s concept of futarchy (governance by betting markets), Coplan set out to create a platform for crowd-sourced predictions. [5] In early 2019, he even wrote to Hanson expressing his ambition to “bring prediction markets to life,” though Hanson was skeptical after seeing many prior attempts fail. [5] Coplan initially worked on a decentralized finance project called Union Market, but when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, he pivoted to focus entirely on prediction markets. Working alone from his Lower East Side apartment (often coding from his bathroom for privacy), he founded Polymarket in June 2020 at age 22. [6] Polymarket operates by using blockchain-based smart contracts to let users bet on the outcomes of real-world events, with trades and payouts settled on the Polygon (Ethereum) network. [1]
Polymarket is now the largest prediction market in the world, facilitating over $3.2 billion in bets during the 2024 United States presidential election and featuring prominently in mainstream media coverage of the election.[ citation needed ]
In November 2024, federal agents searched Coplan's Manhattan home and seized his electronic devices as part of an FBI investigation into whether Polymarket was illegally allowing Americans to bet on U.S. elections. Polymarket's spokesperson claimed the raid was “obvious political retribution” by the outgoing Biden administration for the site having correctly predicted the election outcome. [7] Coplan himself made light of the incident, quipping "New phone, who dis?" on social media after his phone was confiscated by agents. [8] No charges were filed against him, and in July 2025 the U.S. Department of Justice and CFTC dropped their investigations into Polymarket without any further action. [6]
With the regulatory cloud lifting, Coplan moved to expand Polymarket's reach. In September 2025, the company acquired a small CFTC-registered exchange and clearinghouse to secure a U.S. operating license, [9] paving the way for Polymarket to legally resume service to U.S. customers by the end of 2025 after nearly three years of being barred domestically. [6] In October 2025, the Intercontinental Exchange (parent company of the New York Stock Exchange) announced a deal to invest up to $2 billion in Polymarket, valuing the startup at $8 billion pre-money valuation. [10] [6] Coplan's roughly 11% ownership stake in the company translated to a personal net worth of about $1 billion, and Bloomberg.com identified him as the youngest self-made billionaire in the world at that time. [10]
Outside of Polymarket, Coplan has been active in the digital art and crypto collectibles space. Using the pseudonym "ethsquiat," he amassed a large collection of NFT artworks during the crypto art boom of 2020–2021, and he is credited with discovering and mentoring emerging NFT artists such as FEWOCiOUS, who later became one of the industry's top-selling creators. [5]