Real Review of World.xyz: Millisecond Trading and Betting Against Market Makers

On September 9, about 5 hours after World.xyz's official launch post opened the trading entrance, the website crashed due to an influx of users; the official announcement stated that the site would temporarily close and was restored 29.5 hours later.

Taking advantage of the moment it just reopened, I had a chance to experience it and share my thoughts.

No Deposit or Withdrawal Needed, Smooth Trading Experience

This is probably one of the biggest selling points of World as "another prediction market": after connecting to a Solana wallet, there is no need to transfer money into World’s independent trading account first. When trading, you simply sign a transaction on the blockchain.

If your wallet holds SOL or USDC, the system will handle the conversion to the required settlement asset during the transaction. Users do not need to open another account to participate in the market.

For many users concerned about fund security, skipping the deposit step not only facilitates interaction but also increases confidence in fund control. Coupled with Solana's on-chain settlement speed, the overall buying and selling experience is very smooth, with almost zero latency.

The real issue does not lie in the smoothness of interaction.

No Limit Orders, Betting Against Market Makers

Unlike the CLOB mechanism used by competitors like Polymarket and Kalshi, World does not have an order book and does not support limit orders.

Independent research by Chainstack Labs identified two main opposing market makers: JanusFI and BisonFI. The study marked the former as a highly correlated market-making program with World, while the latter was marked as an independent third party; World has not publicly disclosed the complete market maker relationships and pricing rules.

I selected "Will Bitcoin rise or fall in this hour?" choosing "rise", entered a specific amount, accepted the given odds, and after submitting my wallet signature, the market maker would return "rise" to me while keeping "fall" for themselves.

In simple terms, I need to accept the quote given by the market maker for the transaction to occur. This also means that the user experience is more like accepting the market maker's current price: you cannot see the prices that others are willing to buy or sell at, nor can you set a price and wait for a transaction.

Another noteworthy point is the bid-ask spread. For example, in the market "Will the Federal Reserve lower interest rates before 2027?", the buy price for "yes" is 11c, while for "no" it is 92c, totaling 103c.

This is not the same as the bid-ask spread for the same asset in traditional CLOBs, but rather a complete buying gap: buying a set of "yes" and "no" simultaneously costs 103c, but regardless of the outcome, this complete set ultimately corresponds to $1.

In the same market of "Will the Federal Reserve lower interest rates before 2027?", this premium is 1c and 0.1c on Polymarket and Kalshi, respectively.

Although this 3c cannot be directly equated to "the platform charged a 3c fee"—it may come from market-making spreads, routing costs, or inventory risks—who exactly collects this 3c and what services it corresponds to have not been specified by the platform.

Chainstack Labs analyzed a sample of an actual transaction, calculating that the premium generated was about 2.16% based on the CASH paid by the user, the tokens left by the market maker on the other side, and additional payment paths. Although this is not a unified rate table published by World, it at least indicates that costs may indeed be folded into quotes and funding paths that users cannot see.

Currently, the market categories in World are quite broad, covering themes like crypto, sports, and politics. Changing the amount from $100 to $1 billion results in almost no change in the odds provided on the page; however, how the odds follow the changes in investment amounts and how high the slippage is have not been detailed by the platform.

Ambiguous Settlement Rules

For short-term rise and fall markets, World’s settlement rules are relatively clear: the time window, price targets, and data sources are quite explicit, and the official also uses Chainlink as the main oracle infrastructure.

However, World has also launched a large number of events like "Will GameStop acquire eBay by 2026?" that require natural language interpretation. These rules specify that a binding final agreement must be publicly announced by a certain date; letters of intent do not count; the acquisition transaction itself does not necessarily need to be completed.

It seems to be written in great detail, but real disputes often occur in edge cases.

For instance, if GameStop issues a statement saying it will acquire a certain subsidiary of eBay at 8 AM Beijing time on January 1, 2027.

Since 8 AM Beijing time on January 1, 2027, is still within Eastern Time in 2026, the timezone not specified in the rules becomes a potential dispute risk; similarly, whether "subsidiary" meets the "acquisition" condition in the rules could also affect the settlement direction.

These are not nitpicking; they directly affect users' pricing of the current probabilities in that market.

World’s public terms leave the choice of oracle and settlement process to the market creators; the foundation does not take on the role of arbitration or covering rulings. This does not mean that no one will settle, but it makes it difficult for users to know before buying: in the event of edge disputes, who explains the rules, which information source takes precedence, whether there is a window for objections, and ultimately who decides whether this should be settled as "yes" or "no".

World has made "on-chain prediction markets" very light: fund security and smooth trading experience. However, the fair mechanisms that can guarantee user retention, cost transparency, and dispute settlement methods still need to be examined.

This content is provided for general informational purposes only and doesn't constitute financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. Any events, rewards, online promotions, or related information mentioned herein should not be considered a recommendation, solicitation, or invitation to purchase, sell, trade, or otherwise deal in any crypto assets. Crypto assets are highly volatile and may result in loss. The availability of WEEX services, products, and related events may vary by region. You are responsible for ensuring that your participation is in accordance with applicable local laws and regulations.