Beta Engagement and Performance Metrics

Pred, a peer-to-peer sports trading exchange built on the Base blockchain network, opened public access on June 4 following an eight-week private beta phase that generated $5 million in notional volume. The platform’s public debut is timed precisely for the opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, utilizing the global soccer tournament as a launchpad to onboard mainstream sports bettors into Web3.

The move is much akin to how platforms utilized the excitement around the 2024 U.S. presidential election to drive mass adoption for general prediction markets.

“Big events bring people in, and the 2024 US election showed how fast that can happen,” Amit Mahensaria, CEO and co-founder of Pred, said. “But an election resolves once. You take a position, it settles, and there’s no reason to come back until the next cycle. The World Cup runs for a month. Every match, every session, every goal reprices the book in real time, and that builds a trading habit rather than a one-off.”

According to a media statement, during its invite-only beta phase, Pred saw engagement from more than 300 users who executed over 100,000 trades focused on soccer markets. According to internal data provided by the company, 86% of those beta traders remained active week over week, and 83% made repeat deposits.

Pred operates as a sports-native decentralized exchange, utilizing an onchain order book that allows traders to match positions directly against one another. The company claims a trading settlement speed of 200 milliseconds, with markets resolving in three minutes. All positions are denominated in the USDC stablecoin, settled onchain, and accrue native yield on deposits.

Mahensaria notes that for a crypto-native audience, the structural advantages of a decentralized framework address long-standing industry challenges. “Positions settle on-chain in USDC, funds stay in your wallet, and the order book is open to see,” he said. “That removes the trust gap that keeps a lot of people off online sports trading.”

Targeting Year-Round Sports Volume

A common challenge for event-driven betting platforms is a severe drop-off in user volume once a major tournament concludes. However, Mahensaria dismissed fears of a post-World Cup decline, pointing to the continuous nature of the global sports calendar.

“Sports don’t have a post-event cliff,” Mahensaria said. “The World Cup ends and the domestic leagues are already back. Premier League, La Liga, the Champions League, the NBA season. There’s always a match, so there’s always volume.”

The exchange is positioning itself against traditional sportsbooks and broader, general-purpose prediction markets by focusing on specialized micro-markets. These include 15-minute in-game markets that settle during live play, “1UP” and “2UP” markets that close immediately when a specific goal differential is met, and live moneyline markets.

Mahensaria emphasized that these formats translate seamlessly to year-round league play. “The markets that perform during the tournament—15-minute markets, live moneyline, session markets—aren’t World Cup specific. They run daily across every league, so the engagement you build in June and July has somewhere to go in August.”

Unlike traditional sportsbooks that rely on internal market makers to take the other side of a wager, Pred’s peer-to-peer model matches traders directly against one another. This structural difference alters how the platform manages liquidity, especially during lower-profile group-stage matches.

“A two-sided market doesn’t need a house, it needs liquidity from independent participants quoting both sides,” Mahensaria explained. “The structural point is what we don’t do: we never take a position against our own traders. The counterparty is another trader, never the platform, so there’s no conflict between us and the people trading on the book.”

To ensure niche in-game events remain viable on thinner books, the platform relies on market pricing mechanisms rather than centralized intervention. “A thin book carries a wider spread, and a wider spread is what makes that market worth quoting for a liquidity provider,” Mahensaria said. “ Liquidity is drawn to the opportunity rather than assigned by the platform. The model points liquidity to where traders actually want to trade, with the house never on either side of the trade.”

Mahensaria, who spent 22 years trading sports, stated that this model directly addresses the structural limitations and “exploitative pricing” that traditional sportsbooks impose on successful, sharp traders. “Pred is the exchange I wanted as a trader,” he said. “The UX and speed of a sportsbook, the pricing and transparency of an on-chain exchange.”

The public release features the platform’s V2 iteration, which developers rebuilt based on feedback from more than 300 user interviews during the beta phase. Pred is backed by venture capital firms Accel and Coinbase Ventures.

The Vietnamese government has called on Bybit, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, to share its  experience in developing a regulated digital asset market, said Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Van Thang.

The Deputy PM made the statement at a meeting in Thursday with Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou. Thang elaborated that Vietnam is seeking the participation and expertise of international firms in completing its legal framework, managing and supervising trading activities, developing information technology infrastructure, and training human resources for the sector.

Thang also noted that the cryptocurrency market in Vietnam holds significant development potential but also carries risks, requiring strict management to prevent money laundering, fraud, and other violations. Vietnam welcomes foreign companies with strong financial capacity, technology, and experience to partner with Vietnamese enterprises during the pilot phase, he added.

In reply, Ben Zhou praised Vietnam’s progress in building a legal framework for digital assets. Bybit is willing to cooperate with Vietnamese partners and share international experience in institution-building and human resource training for the sector, the executive added.

In September 2025, the Vietnamese government issued a resolution on piloting cryptocurrency exchanges in Vietnam for five years. So far, about ten businesses have expressed their interests to join the program. Many banks and securities companies have established businesses for the pilot, including leading banks in Vietnam such as Techcombank, VPBank, LPBank, VIX Securities, and Sun Group.

In May 2026, Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi said Vietnam’s digital asset exchange could begin official operations as early as the third quarter of 2026 under a pilot framework approved by the government.

Vietnam can launch digital asset exchange in Q3 this year, says Deputy Minister

Rich Dad Poor Dad Author Turns a 40% Tax Claim Into a Debt Warning

Robert Kiyosaki warned in a June 2 post on X that U.S. debt exposes taxpayers to a deeper financial problem. The renowned author of Rich Dad Poor Dad asked how a government that “takes 40% of everyone’s money” still runs up trillions in debt. His question links take-home pay, federal spending, and public distrust in one sharp critique.

The warning lands as U.S. debt sits near historic highs. Treasury data showed public debt outstanding at about $39.2 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects gross federal debt will reach $64 trillion by 2036 as federal spending continues to outpace revenue. That projection sharpens Kiyosaki’s warning that heavy tax collection still fails to stop Washington’s borrowing.

The 40% figure is not an official tax rate. Instead, it may reflect the combined impact of federal income taxes, payroll taxes, state taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes on wage earners. Because those obligations can consume a significant share of income, Kiyosaki appears to use 40% as a broad estimate of the tax burden many workers experience.

Gold’s Rally Extends Kiyosaki’s Debt Warning Into Markets

Kiyosaki extended his fiscal warning into markets in a May 31 post on X. He said gold rose 65% in one year, while savings accounts paid 4% annually. That comparison turned his debt criticism into an investment argument. It also pushed savers to weigh cash returns against a major hard-asset rally.

The well-known financial commentator also said central banks are moving from U.S. Treasuries into gold. That claim gained support this week after European Central Bank (ECB) data showed gold accounted for 27% of global official reserves at the end of 2025, surpassing U.S. Treasuries at 22%. The shift broadened his warning from household finances to global reserve strategy. In Kiyosaki’s view, growing demand for gold reflects concerns about debt-heavy government finance and the long-term stability of paper assets.

He wrote:

“FYI: Gold up 65% in 1 year. Savings pay 4% a year. Central banks dumping US Treasuries for gold. Get the picture?”

The warning extends beyond taxes and government debt. Kiyosaki has cautioned that a major market crash could escalate into a depression, leaving millions of people with significant losses and financial hardship. He attributes that risk to excessive debt, Federal Reserve policies, and declining confidence in government institutions. As a result, he continues to advocate holding gold, silver, and bitcoin, arguing that scarce assets offer protection when paper wealth, cash savings, and traditional financial markets come under pressure.