Cryptocurrencies

Polymarket Five-Minute Bets Capture ‘Addictive’ Crypto Craze

The Polymarket Sports Futures website page arranged on a smartphone in Forest Hills neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York, US, on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. Prediction platforms pitch themselves as tools for insight, but eye-catching bets on real-world events are raising questions about access, integrity and regulation.Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg

Over the past decade, Wall Street has steadily shortened the lifespan of its trades. Options that once lasted months now sit alongside ones that last weeks, or even a single day.

Faster markets and better technology have made it possible to wager on shorter and shorter stretches of market action. Now, crypto traders are compressing that time even further — making bets that barely outlast a coffee break.