Prediction markets have a settlement problem, and social consensus is not going to fix it.

While platforms like Polymarket have proven massive demand for event-based trading, they have also exposed a structural weakness that limits institutional participation: resolution risk. When a market’s final outcome depends on human voters rather than deterministic data, professional liquidity providers treat that uncertainty as unquantifiable risk. Spreads widen, capital retreats, and markets remain cyclical.

Inframarkets is building an energy prediction market designed to eliminate this failure. By anchoring prediction markets resolution to machine-verifiable data through the Inframarkets Oracle System (IOS), and by focusing on event contracts that connect to deep global energy markets, Inframarkets introduces institutional-grade prediction markets with deterministic settlement, real-world hedgeability, and exchange-level execution on Solana.

The Liquidity Problem in Traditional Prediction Markets

Prediction markets have gained significant traction as a new financial primitive. However, sustained professional liquidity remains a persistent constraint. Many markets attract retail participation during high-profile political cycles or major sporting events, yet deep, consistent market-making is harder to achieve.

The core reason is settlement uncertainty. Market makers evaluate not only volume and volatility but also resolution risk. If the outcome of a contract can be disputed, delayed, or subjected to governance override, capital efficiency declines and spreads widen. Institutional-grade prediction markets require more than user activity. They require predictable settlement, reliable resolution mechanisms, and low legal ambiguity.

Social Truth and Resolution Risk: The Polymarket Comparison

Many traditional prediction markets rely on a social truth model for prediction markets resolution. External voting systems determine the final outcome of a market, introducing a human-in-the-loop dependency at the most critical point in the contract lifecycle: settlement.

The Polymarket comparison illustrates this issue clearly. Polymarket relies on UMA’s optimistic oracle for resolution in many of its markets. While the mechanism is functional, it introduces UMA resolution risk where token holders determine final outcomes. This structure can produce perceived conflicts of interest, dispute windows, and governance complexity – particularly during controversial or high-profile events. Professional desks treat this as unquantifiable tail risk.

For retail users, this friction may be acceptable. For professional liquidity providers, dispute risk directly affects capital allocation decisions. Institutional participants require deterministic outcomes tied to authoritative, machine-readable data sources – not governance votes.

Why Political and Sports Markets Lack Hedgeability

Another structural limitation of traditional prediction markets is hedgeability. Political or sports markets are nearly impossible to hedge externally. A market maker providing liquidity on an election outcome or a championship result has no correlated instrument in regulated venues to offset exposure.

This absence of hedgeable prediction markets increases risk asymmetrically. Without external instruments to balance positions, liquidity providers face directional exposure they cannot manage. As a result, spreads widen and participation becomes cyclical, surging around events and evaporating afterward.

Inframarkets takes a fundamentally different approach by focusing on event contracts tied to real-world energy markets. Energy markets are deeply connected to global commodity infrastructure. Power prices, natural gas benchmarks, renewable generation metrics, and weather-related indicators are referenced by existing financial and physical markets worldwide.

This makes energy prediction market structures inherently more hedgeable. A liquidity provider on an Inframarkets power contract can offset directional exposure using correlated instruments such as CME energy futures – something structurally impossible on a presidential election market. Hedgeable prediction markets support tighter spreads, deeper liquidity, and sustainable professional participation.

The Inframarkets Oracle System (IOS): Deterministic Settlement by Design

At the center of the Inframarkets model is the Inframarkets Oracle System (IOS), a deterministic oracle system designed to anchor prediction markets resolution to machine-verifiable data rather than human consensus.

Each IOS-settled contract references:

• A clearly defined, authoritative data source (e.g., ERCOT real-time settlement point prices, EIA published benchmarks, or ISO generation data)
• A specific observation timestamp
• A predefined settlement rule
• A documented fallback policy for data unavailability or revision

The first officially published value at the specified timestamp from the designated source becomes the settlement reference. There is no subjective voting, no dispute window, and no governance override. Machine-verifiable resolution enhances transparency, auditability, and capital efficiency.

By replacing social truth with machine truth, Inframarkets strengthens the structural integrity of prediction markets. Settlement is rule-based and data-driven rather than governance-dependent. 

Energy as a Foundation for Institutional-Grade Prediction Markets

Energy markets present a distinct opportunity for prediction market evolution. Power volatility, renewable intermittency risk, transmission congestion, and demand variability generate measurable and frequent data points – creating a rich surface for contract design.

An energy prediction market built on observable outcomes transforms operational signals into tradable instruments. On-chain energy derivatives allow participants to take positions on clearly defined events such as price thresholds, generation metrics, or demand-response triggers.

Because these markets are tied to authoritative data and real-world infrastructure, they are fundamentally better suited for professional liquidity provision than narrative-driven event markets. Hedgeable prediction markets reduce counterparty anxiety and support sustainable, deep participation.

Solana Settlement and Performance

Inframarkets combines deterministic oracle logic with Solana settlement. By leveraging Solana,as  the most performant blockchain for high-throughput execution, the platform supports sub-second finality.

Solana settlement provides on-chain transparency and finality while maintaining exchange-level execution performance. This architecture enables institutional-grade prediction markets to operate with the responsiveness of a centralized exchange while preserving the auditability and composability of on-chain infrastructure.

The result is an integrated stack:

• Deterministic oracle resolution through the Inframarkets Oracle System (IOS)
• On-chain energy derivatives with machine-verifiable settlement
• Orderbook-based execution for professional trading workflows
• Solana settlement infrastructure for throughput and composability

From Speculation to Structured Markets

The next phase of prediction markets will be defined by two things: settlement integrity and liquidity sustainability. Platforms that solve both will capture institutional capital. Those that don’t will remain retail-cyclical.

Inframarkets addresses both by combining machine-verifiable data with hedgeable real-world markets. The Inframarkets Oracle System (IOS) introduces a deterministic oracle system that removes the ambiguity, dispute risk, and governance overhead that limit existing platforms. By focusing on energy prediction market structures that connect to global commodity infrastructure – rather than purely narrative events – Inframarkets is building a new on-chain energy derivative.

In the choice between social truth and machine truth, the long-term viability of prediction markets may depend on which model delivers greater certainty, deeper liquidity, and lower structural risk. Inframarkets positions machine-verifiable settlement as the foundation for that next phase.

Follow Inframarkets.io on X: https://x.com/Inframarkets
Follow Inframarkets.io on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inframarkets/ 

London, United Kingdom, 20th February 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, CT3 has announced the launch of the CT3 On-Chain Commerce Ecosystem – a Web3 layer for businesses that enables companies to distribute digital products through NFT access keys backed by decentralized storage.

With this release, CT3 introduces a full-cycle flow for digital commerce: sellers upload a digital product to CT3, receive an NFT “key,” and list it on supported marketplaces. When the NFT is purchased, ownership transfers to the buyer’s wallet, and the buyer can instantly access and download the file via CT3. The first marketplace integration has already been successfully launched with OpenSea.

Why it matters

Digital sales are still burdened by payment gateways, chargebacks, manual fulfillment, and fragmented tools. CT3 replaces this complexity with a wallet-first model: purchase → ownership → instant delivery, available globally and 24/7, without the need for traditional storefront infrastructure.

Advantages vs Existing Solutions

• Delivery like an online store – without manual work
: The seller doesn’t need to send files by email or in private messages; the buyer receives access automatically right after the purchase.

• The product can’t be “swapped” after the sale: 
The file is stored in CT3, and access is granted via an NFT key. The key’s ownership history is visible on-chain and serves as transparent proof of purchase and ownership

• It’s visible whether a digital product has already been used: 
CT3 can mark whether the file has already been downloaded using that key. This makes it possible to distinguish a “new” digital product from one that has already been used.

• Safer for resales
: Buyers can check the status before purchasing on the secondary market – not downloaded / already downloaded (Unredeemed / Redeemed) – and make a decision based on that.

• Trust mechanism for businesses
: CT3 provides seller verification and a trust badge, along with a basic process for handling disputes – helping reduce fraud and increase transparency.

About CT3

CT3 is a company that has been operating since 2022 and is developing a decentralized cloud storage solution: you upload a file, it is stored across a distributed network, and access is granted through an NFT key. This approach virtually eliminates the risk of shutdowns, data leaks, and makes cyberattacks significantly harder: data is split into fragments and stored on different nodes, access is controlled cryptographically, and the system does not rely on a single provider- so there is no single point of failure.

At the core of CT3’s philosophy are three principles: security, anonymity, and freedom of speech. The company believes that everyone has the right to protect their data, maintain privacy, and express their thoughts freely without fear of censorship or information leaks.

Invitation for sellers to collaborate

CT3 invites sellers of digital products to collaborate – including licenses, subscriptions, tickets, certificates, promo codes, private releases, as well as databases and datasets. Anyone looking for wallet-native distribution with automated delivery and a verifiable usage status can contact CT3 to join the first wave of merchants.

Useful Links

CT3 Website: https://ct-3.ltd/

CT3 Secure storage: сt-3.cloud
 

X (Twitter): https://x.com/ct3_io

Telegram: https://t.me/ct3_io

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ct-3-secure-storage/

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 20th February 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, Slotozilla has established itself as a recognized international resource for electronic gaming machines and casino reviews. Drawing on its team’s collective expertise, the brand continues to provide independent analysis of industry operators, software, and player behaviour. It has recently published the Online Slots Statistics report that presents findings based on the platform’s demo slot machines interaction data collected throughout 2025. The expert analysis highlights regional preferences, engagement levels, and usage patterns, which offer stakeholders insights into key player preferences from demo slot usage data.

Global Favourites: The Demo Slots That Defined 2025

The Slotozilla market report effectively highlighted slot trends across selected GEOs worldwide. Canadian players showed a strong preference for wildlife-themed titles, while mythologically inspired and high-volatility slots led engagement in the US. In Australia, gold rush–themed games emerged as the clear market favourite.

A long-standing adventure-themed video slot carried over its momentum in the Spanish market from 2024. It remained the most popular demo category in Spain and maintained the highest regional engagement levels in 2025. This indicates sustained dominance of similar adventure-driven themes and highlights the market’s continued affinity for familiar, narrative-focused slot experiences.

France, Poland, and Portugal demonstrated a marked inclination toward crash mechanics. Crash-style titles led engagement metrics across these markets, each showing strong player interaction within this format. The data suggests that crash games are likely to maintain their momentum into 2026.

Players in Germany and the UK showed stronger engagement with high-volatility and feature-driven slot formats, respectively. Overall, European slot preferences appeared to have diversified significantly compared to the previous year. This shift indicates a market increasingly open to evolving mechanics and varied gameplay formats heading into 2026.

Engagement and Regional Behaviour Shifts

Analysis of engagement metrics shows a clear correlation between retention rates and average playtime. Canada and Poland recorded high values across both indicators, reflecting sustained player interest and repeated demo sessions. Conversely, Australia and Portugal displayed lower averages, suggesting shorter play cycles and reduced session frequency.

Category-level data further reinforced these trends. In Australia, gold rush–themed titles continued to demonstrate strong regional performance, while in Spain, long-established adventure-themed slots maintained leading positions in both retention and average playtime.

About Slotozilla

Since its inception, Slotozilla has become one of the most respected names in the global iGaming ecosystem. For over ten 12 years, it has published a vast array of online casino reviews, payment method commentaries, and comprehensive ecosystem analyses.

Slotozilla as a gaming platform also has 3,000+ slot demos available for players to enjoy for free. Its expert team comprises 50+ members with decades of experience. This guarantees the delivery of informative, precise insights, as seen in the Online Slots Statistics 2025 report.

Further information is available on the Slotozilla official website, and the company can be reached through its media contact.