The Three Broken Things in Prediction Markets (And What Melee Is Actually Fixing)

Baheet argues that prediction markets' $6.5 billion weekly volume masks a structural problem: 99% sits in politics, sports, and crypto while thousands of long-tail markets barely exist because infrastructure can't support them. AMMs fail due to inevitable impermanent loss at resolution; CLOBs require professional market makers (23 at Kalski, top three providing 70% of election liquidity) and ignore unprofitable niche markets. Melee's parimutuel market maker solves this by using bonding curves per outcome, enabling cold-start liquidity without intermediaries while allowing creators to launch permissionless markets and capture fee revenue—unlocking the $100 billion in passive DeFi capital currently locked out.