Data.Bet joins surge into short-term crypto markets to supplement esports betting

Sportsbook supplier Data.Bet is now offering clients short-term crypto and commodity prediction markets to supplement its esports betting product.

The markets will allow users to wager on whether the prices of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum will rise or fall in short time spans. Additionally, users can wager on the price changes of commodities such as oil and gold. There will be five settlement periods: five minutes, 15 minutes, one hour, four hours, and 24 hours.

“Prediction Markets was built to give operators a fast-moving, always-on offering that runs independently of the sports calendar,” said Rostyslav Likhtin, Head of Product at DATA.BET in a press release.

“We’re making it faster to trade, easier to read, and easier to deploy, and this is only the first step in how far we’re taking this.”

Data.Bet first launched prediction markets in April, but has focused on non-sports markets so far. The company sees it as a complement to its betting products, which have a large focus on esports wagering.

“Building them as a standalone vertical, without blending sports, esports, and virtual sports content into the same category, we ensure clear product structure and positioning for operators and platform providers,” said CEO Yurii Berest.

Data.Bet’s revenue has grown recently on the back of its esports betting product, particularly in-play wagering. In the first quarter of this year, revenue doubled, with turnover from esports betting up 70%.

Much of that increase is from more in-play betting. The company reported that over 70% of wagers at the Esports World Cup were live bets.

The short-term crypto markets mimic in-play bets, such as on the next kill or next map winner.

“Short-cycle markets settle in minutes rather than months, giving Prediction Markets a fast, repeatable betting rhythm alongside its longer-horizon political and economic events,” the company said. “For operators, this means more betting opportunities within a single session that runs independently of any sports schedule.”

Fellow esports-focused sportsbook supplier BETBY also announced the launch of SlotBets this week. The new interface could turn esports betting into a casino-style slot game experience. The product similarly promises to keep users constantly engaged in betting.

The two leading verticals at prediction markets are overwhelmingly sports and short-term crypto and commodities. An analysis from Gambling Insider showed that in August, sports and the short-dated markets accounted for over 95% of all money staked at Kalshi.

Polymarket and Kalshi started offering the short-term markets last year. At Kalshi, 15-minute Bitcoin trading saw $643 million in volume in April, rising to over $4 billion in July.

Adding in all cryptocurrencies, the 15-minute markets saw $4.69 billion in volume in July, more than 75% of the total crypto volume.

The expansion of live sports markets has also seen a huge rise in volume. Flagship events such as the Esports World Cup and The International have seen record trading volumes at Kalshi and Polymarket.

Much of the live trading is driven by bots, hoovering up any price discrepancies to maximize profits, as revealed in an analysis by Predictbook.

While sportsbooks would usually ban any automated betting bots, prediction markets are incentivized to encourage higher trading volumes, regardless of their source. As a result, DraftKings also launched short-term crypto markets on its prediction market exchange last month.