Polymarket hires Goldman Sachs veteran to lead institutional growth

Prediction market exchange Polymarket has hired a near three-decade Goldman Sachs veteran to help lead its push to attract Wall Street liquidity.

Lisa Mantil will be Polymarket's head of institutional growth, the company told CNBC ahead of a Tuesday announcement. Mantil was most recently a Goldman partner and global head of the bank's ETF accelerator, its in-house platform that helped clients launch investment products.

"The opportunity to join Polymarket is a rare chance to help shape an exploding asset class at an inflection point in its development," Mantil said in a release. "I've spent my career guiding institutions as they adopt new products and enter new markets, and I look forward to bringing that expertise to Polymarket as we build the institutional business and expand the role prediction markets can play across investment and risk-management strategies."

Mantil is the latest hire by Polymarket as it continues to expand following the official launch of its U.S. exchange in May.

CNBC reported in August on a slew of new hires across both Polymarket's international and domestic platforms, and the company announced earlier this month that it was hiring Warren Jenson as its chief financial officer. Jenson previously held roles at companies such as including Amazon and Delta Air Lines.

Prediction markets — which have seen their volumes surge in the past year primarily due to retail traders interested in their sports-related offerings — are increasingly looking to attract institutional liquidity to their platforms. Polymarket CEO and founder Shayne Coplan said in the release that Mantil is the right person to lead the latest expansion of the company's business.

"Lisa's experience and relationships across the institutional world are world class," Coplan said.

Institutional adoption of prediction markets is still in early stages, and some players are staying on the sidelines as platforms are in a regulatory brawl with states regarding who has the right to oversee their sports-related event contracts. But that hasn't stopped platforms from trying to woo large traders.

Rival Kalshi in April became the first exchange to complete a block trade, which are large transactions negotiated privately to avoid price volatility that are typical on Wall Street. Polymarket's international platform, which is not regulated in the U.S. and operates on the Polygon blockchain, conducted its first block trade one month later.

Brokers working with early institutional participants on prediction markets have told CNBC that the company has had discussions about completing block trades on its U.S. exchange, and is nearing the ability to do so.

Polymarket declined to comment regarding the status of block trades on its domestic platform.