I'm seeing a very different approach in sports trading, and it's quite fascinating. Have you heard of PRED? These folks are thinking about sports predictions in a completely new way.

Amit Mahensaria (CEO of PRED) told me that their entire model is based on a simple idea: they are not building a traditional sportsbook. They are creating an exchange. Do you understand the difference?

On a traditional bookmaker, you fight against the house. The house sets the odds, and it profits from your losses. That means when you're good, they limit you. That’s just how the system works. But on PRED? You trade directly with other traders. The platform just matches orders. Their money is made when people trade, not when people lose. That’s a completely different motivation.

Mahensaria has been involved in sports trading for 22 years and has seen how top analysts are repeatedly kicked off platforms. Just because they’re good. So he said: we need to create a market where skill is rewarded, not punished. On PRED, the better you are, the more welcome you are. This isn’t a marketing gimmick. It’s a direct consequence of the structure.

Now, in live sports, speed is critical. A goal can change the market by 30-40% in seconds. PRED is prepared for this. It executes trades in less than 200 milliseconds. Most on-chain platforms take seconds. Understanding the significance of this: when you see a price, you can actually get it. Most places can’t do that.

They built on Coinbase’s Base. Why? Gas fees are minimal (a fraction of a cent), transaction speed is under a second, and users on Base already understand DeFi. This combination offers on-chain transparency and the speed of a centralized exchange. The point is, you get the speed needed for live sports.

Another thing I liked: 5-6% returns on deposits. On most platforms, when you deposit money, it sits idle until you trade. On PRED, your capital works for you. They partner with institutions to generate income on stablecoin deposits. And since they don’t have huge marketing costs, they share part of the trading fees with users. It’s a simple idea, but perhaps no one else in this industry is doing it.

Mahensaria’s background is interesting. He’s worked in investment banking, private equity, and built an edtech platform that was sold to Upgrad. But 22 years of sports trading showed him what’s wrong in this industry: limitations, bans, slow platforms, changing rules. Frustration was the motivation behind creating PRED.

In the near future, he’s not chasing registration numbers. He wants to build a community of serious, active traders. A few thousand committed traders who generate real liquidity are better than millions of inactive accounts. The point is, quality matters more than quantity.

Starting with football, he will expand into other sports. And not just new sports, but also diverse markets within the same league. Coming predictions will be both combined and conditional.

He raised $2.5 million led by Accel, with participation from Coinbase Ventures. This shows that people believe in the idea that sports outcomes are a real tradable asset class. Understanding the point is crucial: it’s not just entertainment.

This is a model where the interests of the platform and traders are aligned. When that happens, things work differently. Traders think long-term about their strategies. They invest more capital. They don’t try to hide their activity. The market deepens. It’s better for everyone. This isn’t just a crypto product with sports added. It’s built by someone who understands the market structure and the real problems in sports trading.