Author: William M. Peaster, Bankless; Translated by: Wuzhu, Golden Finance

Everyone has been paying close attention to decentralized prediction markets this year, thanks to the breakout success of Polymarket.

While Polymarket is a leader in the space, with monthly volume, active users, and open interest statistics currently near all-time highs amid excitement over the 2024 presidential election, there are other players to watch.

If you are a Solana user, then you should check out BET!

Last week, popular Solana decentralized exchange Drift announced the launch of BET, or “Bullish on Everything,” a capital-efficient prediction market built on the Drift protocol.

What’s the grand vision? Providing a prediction market where users can take advantage of Solana’s signature speed and low costs while earning a yield on their underlying positions before the outcome of an event is known.

Additionally, BET is also broad in its token support. While Polymarket is centered around USDC trading, BET supports trading with over 30 different cryptocurrencies, including stablecoins and Solana Liquidity Staking Tokens (LST).

To start, BET is launching with a few markets centered around the upcoming U.S. election, such as, will Kamala Harris win the popular vote in 2024? Moving forward, Drift will add more market categories, such as sports, and move toward fully permissionless markets.

That being said, if you’re interested in trying these first markets yourself, head over to app.drift.trade/bet and connect your Solana wallet. At this point, you’ll need to fund and create an account. Select your preferred deposit method and approve account creation, which costs around 0.03 SOL.

After that, you can click on one of the available markets on the BET platform to dive deeper. First, note the market’s “Settlement Date” so you know how long it will last. Then go to the “Markets” tab and select “Bet Yes” or “Bet No” depending on your prediction.

Now, it's time to determine your trade size. In the trading interface, enter the number of yes or no shares you would like to acquire using the "cost per share" indicator to help you make your decision. Once completed, the interface will display additional information such as your potential profit and how much FUEL you will earn.

If everything looks good, press the final "BET" button and complete the purchase transaction using your wallet. That's all!

Once you have locked your position, you can use the "Positions" tab below the market interface to monitor the performance of your bet or close it early before the settlement date. Here you will also find the "Balances" tab, which is used to deposit, withdraw, exchange or transfer your assets as needed.

You can do some more advanced things with BET, like place limit orders, and there are some other services you might be interested in, like staking DRIFT to earn extra FUEL. But the walkthrough above shows that even just the basics here are straightforward and compelling.

Of course, Polymarket has laid out the blueprint for how on-chain prediction markets can gain widespread popularity; the question now is whether BET can match (or exceed) Polymarket’s success by following a similar strategy and combining its own twists.