# Polygon Community Grants Application - GuessMarket
## DRAFT - Review and customize before submitting
**Apply at:** https://polygon.questbook.xyz/
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## PROJECT NAME
GuessMarket
## ONE-LINE DESCRIPTION
The only multi-chain permissionless prediction market where anyone can create and trade YES/NO markets on any event.
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## PROJECT DESCRIPTION
GuessMarket is a decentralized prediction market platform deployed on Polygon and 4 other chains (Base, BNB, Ethereum, PulseChain). Unlike Polymarket and Kalshi - which are valued at $9-15 billion combined but don’t allow users to create markets - GuessMarket is fully permissionless: anyone can create a prediction market about anything.
**What makes us unique:**
1. **Permissionless Market Creation** - Users create their own YES/NO markets on any topic (sports, politics, crypto, entertainment, etc.). No gatekeepers, no approval process.
2. **Multi-Chain** - Live on 5 chains including Polygon. We’re the only prediction market offering this.
3. **Zero Competition on Polygon** - There is no other permissionless prediction market on Polygon. Polymarket (the industry leader) is on Polygon but doesn’t allow user-created markets.
4. **Multi-Language** - Available in 8+ languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Hindi) for global reach.
5. **Race! Game Mode** - A unique competitive trading game where players pick teams and compete in timed prediction battles.
**Why Polygon:**
- Low gas fees enable micro-betting and frequent trading
- Fast finality for real-time market updates
- Large existing DeFi user base
- USDC liquidity available
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## PROBLEM YOU’RE SOLVING
Prediction markets are a $20+ billion industry (Polymarket + Kalshi valuations), but the major platforms are gatekept:
- **Polymarket**: Markets created by internal team only. Users cannot create markets.
- **Kalshi**: CFTC-regulated, centralized market creation. Users cannot create markets.
This creates a bottleneck. Millions of potential prediction markets - about sports, local events, crypto projects, personal bets, community decisions - never get created because they don’t meet the centralized curation standards.
**The opportunity:** Permissionless market creation, like permissionless token creation (pump.fun model), unlocks the “long tail” of prediction markets. GuessMarket enables this on Polygon.
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## TRACTION & METRICS
- **Launch:** January 2026 (this month)
- **Markets Created:** 5 active markets
- **Chains:** 5 (Polygon, Base, BNB, Ethereum, PulseChain)
- **Languages:** 8+
- **Volume:** Early stage - focusing on product-market fit before scaling
*We’re early. We’re applying for this grant specifically to fund user acquisition and liquidity on Polygon.*
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## COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
| Platform | Chains | User-Created Markets? | Funding |
|----------|--------|----------------------|---------|
| Polymarket | Polygon | NO | $255M+ |
| Kalshi | Centralized | NO | $291M+ |
| Opinion | BNB only | YES | $5M |
| **GuessMarket** | **5 chains including Polygon** | **YES** | Bootstrapped |
**Key insight:** VCs are pouring money into permissionless prediction markets (Opinion raised $5M from YZi Labs). GuessMarket is the only one live on Polygon with this thesis.
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## TEAM
**Founder:** Scott Crawford (Solo Founder)
**Background:**
- Engineer, programmer, and web developer
- In crypto since 2011 (pre-Bitcoin halving era)
- 13+ years of crypto experience
- Experience building and shipping Web3 products
- Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
**Why I’ll succeed:**
- I ship fast (launched multi-chain in under a month)
- Deep crypto experience (13+ years)
- Solo founder = maximum efficiency, zero overhead
- Skin in the game - bootstrapped to this point
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## USE OF FUNDS
We’re requesting **$50,000** (or equivalent in POL) to grow GuessMarket on Polygon:
| Category | Allocation | Purpose |
|----------|------------|---------|
| **Marketing** | 60% ($30,000) | User acquisition campaigns, influencer partnerships, community building, Twitter/X marketing, contests & giveaways |
| **Liquidity** | 30% ($15,000) | Seed initial markets with USDC liquidity to enable trading and reduce slippage |
| **Infrastructure** | 10% ($5,000) | RPC costs, indexing, monitoring, security tools |
**Why this matters:**
Prediction markets have a cold-start problem. Users won’t trade empty markets, and LPs won’t provide liquidity without traders. This grant breaks the chicken-egg cycle by funding both marketing (users) and liquidity (tradeable markets).
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## ROADMAP & MILESTONES
**Immediate (Months 1-2):**
- Launch marketing campaign targeting Polygon users
- Seed 10+ markets with liquidity on Polygon
- Partner with Polygon-native communities and DAOs
- Run prediction market contests with prizes
**Short-term (Months 3-4):**
- Reach 500+ unique traders on Polygon
- $100K+ cumulative trading volume on Polygon
- 50+ user-created markets on Polygon
- Integrate with Polygon ecosystem protocols
**Medium-term (Months 5-6):**
- Launch ZKP research initiative (private trading)
- Expand market categories based on user demand
- Build API for developers to create markets programmatically
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## FUTURE VISION: Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Our next major development is integrating **Zero-Knowledge Proofs** for private prediction markets:
- **Hidden Positions** - Trade without revealing your position to front-runners
- **Private Balances** - Participate without exposing wallet balances
- **Verifiable Outcomes** - Cryptographic proof of fairness without transparency
- **Institutional Ready** - Enable corporate/institutional participation
This positions GuessMarket as the privacy-focused prediction market - a unique niche in the industry.
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## WHY POLYGON SHOULD FUND US
1. **We’re already live on Polygon** - Not a promise, a shipped product
2. **Zero permissionless competition on Polygon** - We’re the only option
3. **Thesis is validated** - VCs funding identical thesis on other chains (Opinion $5M on BNB)
4. **Multi-chain = Polygon exposure** - Users on other chains discover Polygon through us
5. **Lean team** - Your capital goes further with us than with bloated teams
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## LINKS
- **Website:** https://guessmarket.com
- **Polygon Markets:** https://guessmarket.com/markets/ (select Polygon)
- **Twitter/X:** https://x.com/guessmarketreal
- **Telegram:** https://t.me/guessmarketreal
- **How It Works:** https://guessmarket.com/en/how-it-works/
- **Roadmap:** https://guessmarket.com/en/what-is-next/
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## CONTACT
- **Name:** Scott Crawford
- **Email:** [email protected]
- Phone: +1-***-***-**** (Provided upon request)
- Address: **** S Main Street #***, Ann Arbor, MI 48103, USA (Provided upon request)
Thank you for your consideration.
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