NEXTPredict Founder: 'Nobody Was Serving' Prediction Markets' Enormous Audience
NEXT.io co-founder Pierre Lindh says prediction markets have moved into mainstream newsrooms but lacked rigorous journalistic coverage, prompting NEXT.io to stage NEXTPredict, a global B2B conference in New York on October 22–23. The event will feature reporters from CNBC and CNN, more than 50 speakers, and an expected 2,500 attendees, with panels addressing market structure, regulation and integrity concerns such as insider trading.
Why It Matters
The conference aims to bridge a gap between media attention and the underlying user base of prediction markets, bringing national broadcasters into an industry that is receiving more cable-news and wire-service coverage even as active platform participation remains concentrated and episodic.
Key Facts
- Event: NEXTPredict, October 22–23 at Convene, Hudson Yards, New York
- Organizer: NEXT.io
- Speakers and attendees: More than 50 speakers; organizers expect about 2,500 attendees; media passes expanded from 50 to 100–200
- Mainstream media: CNBC correspondent Contessa Brewer and CNN senior reporter Marshall Cohen added to the program
- Polymarket MAU: Around 283,300 monthly active users (unique revenue-generating addresses), down from a spring peak above 750,000
NEXT.io is staging NEXTPredict, billed as the first global B2B conference for prediction markets, on October 22–23 at Convene in Hudson Yards, New York. Co-founder and managing director Pierre Lindh told PredictCentr the industry has been attracting widespread media attention but lacked coverage that meets "real journalistic standards," prompting organizers to include national reporters onstage rather than confining them to a press room. CNBC's Contessa Brewer and CNN's Marshall Cohen were added in August, booked around the midterm elections.
Organizers anticipate over 50 speakers and roughly 2,500 attendees, and say demand from newsrooms has pushed media passes from an initial 50 to between 100 and 200. Lindh said the summit was structured so that a significant portion of the main stage would produce content national broadcasters would consider newsworthy, acknowledging a tension between the stories that attract TV coverage—such as election odds—and the more technical market-structure discussions that paying delegates expect.
The sector's broader visibility contrasts with the underlying user metrics on trading platforms. Token Terminal data cited in media coverage put Polymarket's monthly active users at about 283,300 unique addresses making revenue-generating transactions, down from a spring peak above 750,000. Kalshi reported acquiring 3 million new users during the 2026 World Cup and saw over $1.2 billion traded on the tournament-winner market, but executives said volume outside event-driven spikes is substantially lower.
Regulatory and integrity issues will be on the agenda: two serving CFTC directors—David Miller (enforcement) and Duncan Hennes (market participants)—are confirmed attendees, alongside executives from DraftKings, Robinhood, Kalshi, Novig, Cboe, Myriad and Blackstone. Insider trading is scheduled as a dedicated session, which Lindh described as the industry's most exposed and difficult issue to resolve. Organizers also bought $3 million of cover on a Kalshi flight-cancellation market as a hedge for the conference, paying a $12,000 premium with Susquehanna as market maker; the contract pays out if more than half of arrivals into JFK are canceled on October 21.
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