Why does Polymarket need Kleros?

Because you can't tell which market will blow up.

An optimistic oracle handles the vast majority of markets perfectly well. The ones that turn into angry threads, manual overrides and headlines cannot be picked out in advance. So the answer is a deeper layer behind all of them.

Who decides when a market is disputed?

And if the losing side disagrees?

There is no appeal.

So the appeal happens somewhere else. The Strategy bitcoin market is now before the New York Supreme Court, where it costs more, takes years, and is decided by a judge with no knowledge of the market. A resolution layer without an appeal does not remove the appeal. It moves it to a courtroom.

What does Kleros do instead?

It runs a court.

• 01A panel drawn at random for that one case, unknown until it is drawn.
• 02Evidence from both sides, and each juror's written justification on a public record.
• 03An appeal that redraws a larger panel.

A court that doubles every appeal.

Overturning an evidenced ruling costs more every round. Panel sizes are set per court; this is the pilot's proposed configuration.

It has done this 2,793 times.

Settled on-chain since 2018, across three chains. Every one reached a final answer.

What do regulators want?

Due process.

• 01Someone impartial to decide it.
• 02Both sides put in evidence.
• 03A written answer that is final.

A statement that a contract will settle based upon a consensus of yet-to-be-determined sources may not be sufficient.

Sources and methods have to be named and assessed before a contract is listed. No rule has been written yet. That is the useful part.

What does Kleros provide?

Due process.

• 01Someone impartial to decide it.A panel drawn at random per case, that did not write the rule and cannot amend it.
• 02Both sides put in evidence.Adversarial submissions from both sides, before the money moves.
• 03A written answer that is final.Each juror's justification, public, and final on-chain.

Let's test it.

A pilot small enough to be uncontroversial. Polymarket picks which markets enter. Kleros builds it, operates it and pays for it. Sports, prices and the undisputed majority stay exactly as they are, and unwinding it is a routing change.

• 6 months or 20 markets
• Polymarket picks
• Kleros funds it
• Unwind: a routing change