---
type: source
title: "5c(c) Capital: Polymarket CEO + Kalshi CEO launch VC fund investing in prediction market companies — institutional adoption signal"
author: "Various (TechCrunch, Coindesk coverage)"
url: https://polymarket.com
date: 2026-03-23
domain: internet-finance
secondary_domains: []
format: announcement
status: processed
processed_by: rio
processed_date: 2026-04-04
priority: medium
tags: [prediction-markets, polymarket, kalshi, venture-capital, institutional-adoption, cftc, regulation]
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

5c(c) Capital announced March 23, 2026. New VC fund:
- **Founders:** Shayne Coplan (Polymarket CEO) + Tarek Mansour (Kalshi CEO)
- **Focus:** Prediction market companies and infrastructure
- **Significance:** The two largest US prediction market platforms' founders forming a capital vehicle signals the sector has matured to the point of self-sustaining capital formation

Also March 2026: **Truth Predict** — Trump Media & Technology Group (owner of Truth Social) entering the prediction market space. Mainstream political adoption of prediction market product category.

**The institutional adoption pattern building across 2025-2026:**
- GENIUS Act signed (July 2025) — stablecoin regulatory framework
- CLARITY Act in Senate — token classification
- Polymarket received CFTC approval via $112M acquisition (context from Session 1)
- Kalshi allowed to list federal election markets following court ruling
- 5c(c) Capital: prediction market sector founders as capital allocators (March 2026)
- Truth Predict: mainstream political brand entering space (March 2026)

**The regulatory ambiguity this creates:**
Institutional prediction market adoption (Polymarket, Kalshi, 5c(c) Capital) strengthens the "markets beat votes" legitimacy thesis (Belief #1). These platforms provide empirical evidence at scale that prediction markets function as designed. However, this creates a classification problem for futarchy specifically:
- Polymarket/Kalshi focus: event prediction (elections, sports, economic indicators)
- Futarchy focus: governance decision markets
- The more mainstream event prediction markets become, the harder it is to distinguish futarchy governance markets as categorically different
- The CFTC ANPRM will define the regulatory perimeter — if 5c(c) Capital + Truth Predict shape that perimeter around event prediction, futarchy governance markets may be excluded or lumped into a less favorable category

**5c(c) Capital ANPRM angle:** Both Coplan and Mansour have direct CFTC comment incentive. Their interests (protecting event prediction platforms from gaming classification) are partially aligned with futarchy (protecting governance markets from gaming classification) — but they may NOT advocate for governance market distinctions if that complicates their simpler regulatory ask.

## Agent Notes

**Why this matters:** The prediction market sector is going through a legitimization phase. Every mainstream adoption signal (5c(c) Capital, Truth Predict, CFTC ANPRM attention) increases the category's credibility — which ultimately helps futarchy's legitimacy case. But the pathway to legitimacy that event prediction markets are building may crowd out futarchy's distinct narrative.

**What surprised me:** The timing: 5c(c) Capital announced 10 days before the CFTC ANPRM comment deadline. Whether intentional or coincidental, the founders of the two largest prediction market platforms have maximum incentive and credibility to shape CFTC rulemaking. If they focus only on event prediction, futarchy has no institutional advocates in the process.

**What I expected but didn't find:** Any statement from 5c(c) Capital or Truth Predict about DAO governance applications or futarchy. Complete silence on governance market use cases.

**KB connections:**
- prediction markets show superior accuracy over polls and expert forecasts — Polymarket/Kalshi empirical track record underpins this claim; 5c(c) Capital's formation is a secondary legitimacy signal
- legacy financial intermediation is the rent-extraction incumbent (Belief #5) — prediction market VC formation is a capital formation attractor state
- CFTC ANPRM (this session) — 5c(c) Capital + Truth Predict are the key players who could shape the rulemaking

**Extraction hints:**
1. **Institutional prediction market adoption acceleration claim:** "Prediction market sector legitimization accelerated in 2026 with 5c(c) Capital (Polymarket + Kalshi founders) and Truth Predict (Trump Media) — institutional adoption validates the product category while complicating futarchy's distinct regulatory narrative"
2. This source is primarily context for the CFTC ANPRM regulatory risk claim — it explains WHO will likely comment and WHOSE interests will shape the rulemaking

**Context:** Prediction market industry is 3-4 years into mainstream adoption curve. Polymarket and Kalshi are the dominant US platforms. 5c(c) Capital represents the sector's founders reinvesting in the ecosystem — a strong maturity signal.

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)

PRIMARY CONNECTION: CFTC ANPRM regulatory risk — 5c(c) Capital's formation explains why futarchy may not get distinct regulatory treatment (its advocates are absent while event prediction market advocates are active)

WHY ARCHIVED: Context for the advocacy gap claim. Also strengthens the institutional adoption pattern that underlies Belief #1's legitimacy layer. Medium priority — this is context, not primary evidence.

EXTRACTION HINT: Don't extract independently. Use as supporting evidence for the CFTC ANPRM claims and the institutional adoption pattern. The key insight is the divergence between event prediction adoption and governance market adoption.
