A crypto-focused prediction platform, Polymarket, saw users place bets worth approximately $5 million on the words Donald Trump would say during his interview with Elon Musk in the early hours of August 13. The biggest return came from those who bet Trump would say “tampon” at the last minute.
“Bitcoin” and “Crypto” Became Favorite Markets
A total of $5 million in betting volume was reached across 11 different Polymarket markets. Betting topics included terms like “bitcoin” and “crypto” as well as more politically charged phrases like “civil war” and “censorship.” Bets were also placed on words like “tampon” and “weird.” The bets were so popular that these markets received over 1,500 comments on the platform.
The word “crypto” attracted the most money, followed by “MAGA” and “illegal immigrant.” Trump used three of these words during the interview: “MAGA,” “illegal immigrant,” and “tampon.”
When Trump said “MAGA,” the betting odds for this word were at 59%, nearly doubling the bettors’ money. The odds for “illegal immigrant” rose above 46%, but when Trump said “tampon,” the odds were at 7%, allowing last-minute bettors to increase their money 14-fold.
One Polymarket user wrote, “Congratulations, tampon brothers,” after Trump said the word. The likelihood of the word “tampon” being said dropped sharply just before he said it. The biggest loss was for those who bet on the word “crypto,” with its odds dropping from 65% to zero during Trump’s speech.
Trump’s Interview with Musk Targeted by DDoS Attack
Trump’s interview with Musk was conducted on Space, an audio chat room on the billionaire’s social media platform X. According to Musk, the interview was delayed by about 40 minutes due to a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. The discussion covered topics such as immigration, inflation, and a failed assassination attempt on Trump.
