Library/Seeing Like a Market: Event Contracts and Market Topology
MicrostructureResearch Paper

Seeing Like a Market: Event Contracts and Market Topology

Lauris Marinson·March 1, 2026·Blog
prediction markets already undercut derivatives for bitcoin and election hedging

Why It's Worth Reading

Quantifies when prediction markets become structurally cheaper than derivatives for pricing binary institutional risk. Analyzes 87 contracts across 11 categories and finds that high-VRP categories like Bitcoin (4.83%) and elections already cross the displacement threshold, while FOMC markets compressed from a 12 percentage point cost gap to under 2 points between 2024 and 2026. Frames the cost differential as "apparatus rent" paid for constructed dealer infrastructure that event contracts can bypass.

Extensive technical background assumed

Concepts

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