Inside The Deal That Made Polymarket’s Founder One Of The Youngest Billionaires On Earth

Forbes

One year ago, the FBI raided Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan’s apartment. Now, the college dropout is a billionaire at age 27.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/aliciapark/2025/11/29/inside-the-deal-that-made-polymarkets-founder-one-of-the-youngest-billionaires-on-earth/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

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00:00Today on Forbes, Inside the Deal that Made PolyMarket's Founder One of the Youngest Billionaires on Earth

00:06In July, Jeffrey Sprecher, the 70-year-old billionaire CEO of Intercontinental Exchange,

00:14the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, sat at Manhattan, an upscale restaurant in the

00:19financial district overlooking the sprawling New York City skyline from the 60th floor.

00:24As a sommelier weaved through the tables, pouring wine, in walked Shane Copland, in a

00:30t-shirt and jeans, clutching a plastic water bottle and a paper bag with a bagel he'd picked

00:35up en route. Sprecher chuckles as he recalls his first impression of the boyish, eccentric

00:40entrepreneur. He says, quote,

00:43An old bald guy that works at the New York Stock Exchange, where we require that you wear a suit

00:47and tie, next to a mop-headed guy in a t-shirt that's 27.

00:51But Sprecher was fascinated by PolyMarket, Copland's blockchain-based prediction market,

00:58and after dinner, he made his move. He says, quote,

01:02I asked Shane if he would consider selling us his company.

01:06Prediction markets like PolyMarket let thousands of ordinary people bet on future events,

01:12the unemployment rate, say, or when Bitcoin will hit an all-time high. In aggregate,

01:17prediction market bets have proven to be something of a crystal ball with the wisdom of the crowd

01:22often proving itself more prescient than expert opinion. For instance, PolyMarket punters predicted

01:29that Trump would prevail in the 2024 presidential election, when many national pundits were sure

01:34that Kamala Harris would win.

01:37Copland initially turned down Sprecher's buyout offer, but discussions led to negotiations,

01:42and eventually a deal. In October, Intercontinental announced it had invested $2 billion for an up

01:50to 25% stake in the company, bringing the young solo founder the balance he was looking for.

01:56In a recent interview, Copland tells Forbes, quote,

02:00At the same time, Copland announced investments from other billionaires, including Figma's Dylan Field,

02:13Zynga's Mark Pincus, Uber's Travis Kalanick, and hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin.

02:19A long-time Red Hot Chili Peppers fan, Copland even convinced lead singer Anthony Kiedis to invest

02:25after a mutual acquaintance brought the musician to Copland's apartment one day.

02:29Copland's bright blue eyes widening, he recalls, quote,

02:33He's buzzing my door, and I'm like, holy shit, I love their music.

02:37A lot of the inspiration for my work comes from the music that I listen to.

02:42Thanks to the deals, PolyMarket's valuation quickly shot to $9 billion,

02:47making the 2025 Under 30 alum the world's youngest self-made billionaire,

02:52with an estimated 11% stake worth $1 billion.

02:55His reign was short.

02:5820 days later, he was overtaken as the youngest by the three 22-year-old founders of AI startup Mercore.

03:06Young entrepreneurs are minting 10-figure fortunes faster than ever.

03:10In addition to the Mercore trio and Copland, 15 other Under 30 alumni,

03:15including Scale AI co-founder Lucy Guo, Reddit's Steve Huffman, and Cursor's co-founders,

03:20became billionaires this year, while Guo's co-founder Alexander Wang and Robinhood's Vlad Tenev,

03:27both former Under 30 honorees, regained their billionaire status after having fallen out of the ranks.

03:33The budding billionaire, Copland, has long been fascinated by markets and tech.

03:38When he was just 14, Copland emailed the Regional Securities and Exchange Commission office

03:43to ask how to create new marketplaces.

03:45Grinning playfully as he thinks of his younger self, he says, quote,

03:50I did not get a response, but it's a really funny email.

03:53It just shows that this stuff takes over a decade of percolating in your mind.

03:58Two years later, Copland showed up at the offices of internet startup Genius uninvited

04:03after multiple emails of his asking for an internship went ignored.

04:07At age 16, at least a decade younger than anyone in that office,

04:11he secured his first job after making a memorable impression with his, quote,

04:15wild curls and, quote, encyclopedic knowledge of billionaire tech entrepreneurs.

04:20His manager at the time, Chris Glazik, wrote in Copland's college recommendation letter,

04:25quote,

04:26If he chooses to become a tech entrepreneur, which seems likely,

04:29I have no doubt that we'll be seeing his name again in the press before long.

04:33Copland went on to study computer science at NYU,

04:37but dropped out in 2017 to work on various crypto projects that never took off.

04:42In 2020, he founded Polymarket.

04:46For full coverage, check out Alicia Park's piece on Forbes.com.

04:51This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:54Thanks for tuning in.

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