World Opens Its Solana Prediction Markets to 1 Million Waitlisted Users — NFL Games, Fed Decisions and Midterms Now Trade On-Chain

World, the prediction market platform built on Solana, has opened its standalone website to more than 1 million waitlisted users — after over 150,000 markets were already created through its integration inside the Phantom wallet.

By Jennifer Kim | September 10, 2026

The Hook: Prediction Markets Go Mainstream-Adjacent

In a September 9 announcement, World said world.xyz now gives its waitlist direct access to trading platforms on everything from football to the Federal Reserve. The service had been operating inside the popular Phantom crypto wallet since July, with users opening positions since June 1, 2026. The standalone launch means users no longer need the wallet app to participate — they can bet directly through the website.

Prediction markets let you bet real money on real-world outcomes — think of them as stock markets for questions like “will the Fed hike rates?” or “will the Chiefs win?” Their surge in popularity has made them one of crypto’s hottest sectors, and World is now betting that a million-person waitlist can convert into a serious challenger.

What You Can Actually Trade

• Sports — every NFL regular-season game, seven soccer leagues and Formula 1.
• Politics and economics — contracts tied to the 2026 US midterm elections and the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy decision.
• Crypto, finance and culture — over 150,000 markets have been created across these categories, according to World.
• Coming soon — equity, commodity and weather markets are planned after the initial launch.

Each market offers “yes” and “no” contracts priced between 0 and 1 USD. The price reflects the market’s collective estimate of the odds; when the event resolves, the winning contract pays out at 1 USD and the loser expires worthless. Trades settle in CASH, the dollar-backed stablecoin used inside Phantom.

How It Works: No Brokerage Account, No Middleman

Unlike a conventional bookmaker or centralized exchange, World operates as a non-custodial protocol — it never holds customer funds. Orders are routed to liquidity providers operating directly on Solana. Users do not open a brokerage account or register with an exchange; they just need a wallet with enough funds to cover Solana’s famously low network fees.

Resolution — deciding who won each market — is automated through Chainlink Data Streams and the Chainlink Runtime Environment. Once a game ends or an official decision is announced, the system reads the result from defined data sources and settles contracts automatically. Chainlink Labs Chief Business Officer Johann Eid linked World’s million-plus waitlist to growing demand for prediction markets on Solana, saying Chainlink provides the data infrastructure needed to resolve markets quickly. That design eliminates the human resolution panels and dispute waiting periods used by older platforms.

Solana Foundation Head of DeFi Ramzy Ali described the launch as “introducing a new asset class to Solana and keeping 100% of the liquidity onchain” — capital that stays inside the Solana ecosystem rather than flowing through an off-chain order book controlled by the platform.

The Core Conflict: Big Waitlist, Unproven Numbers

Here is the caveat every investor should hold onto: World has not disclosed first-day trading volume, open interest or its fee structure. Without those figures, its true traction cannot be compared with established rivals. The 150,000-market count measures contracts launched, not money traded or active users.

The bar is high. As crypto.news reported in August, prediction market volume across Kalshi, Polymarket and Polymarket US reached a record 50.59 billion USD in July — with Kalshi alone accounting for 37.7 billion USD and Polymarket’s platforms a combined 12.9 billion USD. Those are notional trading volumes, but they illustrate the scale World must chase. There is also a regulatory wrinkle: World’s inclusion of NFL games and midterm contracts gives it direct exposure to US rules, and while Phantom says prediction markets are offered only where supported, no country-by-country availability list was published.

The Verdict

World’s launch is a milestone for Solana’s ambitions beyond memecoins and DeFi — automated resolution, self-custody and million-user access are genuinely different from the incumbents. But a waitlist is not a customer base, and until World publishes real volume data, treat its challenger status as promising but unproven. If you participate, remember the golden rule of prediction markets: prices are probabilities, not promises — and Solana’s ecosystem token SOL, trading near 101 USD at the time of writing, tends to feel both the hype and the disappointment.

The cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.