Polymarket Withdraws NFL Contracts, Certifies Bitcoin Bets
Bitcoin (BTC)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
bitcoinethereumnews.com reports that Polymarket US filed and subsequently withdrew two NFL Player Participation Contracts with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on August 25. The exchange had previously stated it would not list these products before August 27, but the registry recorded their withdrawal on August 26. These contracts were similar to those the CFTC deemed contrary to public interest, focusing on player injuries and specific in-game actions.
On the same day as the withdrawal, Polymarket certified three new crypto price contracts for Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana. Each of these new products is classified as a swap in the binary option subcategory. The NFL contracts were designed to settle based on whether a player participated in at least one play, excluding pre-event injury reports.
Polymarket head of markets Nick Rice signed the certification letter for the initial filings. The exchange has a history of withdrawing certified contracts, including tennis and NCAA sports bets in June. Despite this activity, Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan serves on the CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee, which recently met to discuss prediction markets.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for BTC, measured when this story was written up on 28 August 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
Bitcoin is trading at $80,249.58 with a 1-hour buy ratio of 52.2% and a 4-hour buy ratio of 50.8%. These short-term figures indicate active buying pressure, contrasting sharply with the 24-hour buy ratio of 45.2%, which suggests a fading of demand over the full day. The 1-hour volume delta is positive at $1,283,983, while the 4-hour delta stands at $4,782,159, showing immediate accumulation. However, the 24-hour volume delta is negative at -$123,102,218, indicating that sellers have dominated the broader daily flow. This divergence suggests that while recent trades favor buyers, the overall daily trend remains bearish. Net buying occurred for only 8 of the 24 hours, highlighting intermittent rather than sustained demand.
The latest daily buy ratio of 46.7% sits at the 18th percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 49.2% - weaker buying than most days.
Twenty-four hours later
What BTC did over the 24 hours after the story broke. The market moves for its own reasons; this is what happened, not what the story caused.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for BTC, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, the average buy ratio was 51.1%, making today’s 24-hour ratio of 45.2% a notable decline of 5.8 percentage points. Trading volume today is at 0.65 times the weekly average, indicating significantly reduced activity compared to recent norms. The coin has gained 9.9% over the past eight days, supported by a total volume delta of $171,556,665. Today’s lower volume and reduced buy ratio suggest this is an unusually quiet day relative to the established weekly trend. While the weekly trend remains positive, today’s metrics show a clear deceleration in both volume and buying intensity.