Author: Mahé, Foresight News
On February 4, during the bear phase of the crypto market, VCs are still placing bets on market tracks. Bluff Prediction Market completed a 21 million USD strategic financing round, led by 1kx, with participating investors including Makers Fund, Maximum Frequency Ventures, Delphi Ventures Founders, and NBA star Tristan Thompson. The official statement said the funds will be directly used to accelerate platform technology iteration, product optimization, and large-scale launch, pushing Bluff from the beta testing phase to global users.
The English meaning of "Bluff" is to bluff or to make a show of strength. In popular culture, "Bluff" is often associated with scenarios such as poker and e-sports, carrying a light-hearted and exciting tone, which aligns with Generation Z's preference for counter-routines and intellectual challenges.
Bluff's fundraising background stems from the continued enthusiasm in the crypto industry for prediction markets and betting entertainment. Since 2025, prediction markets such as Polymarket have repeatedly set new trading volume records, but traditional platforms still face issues such as slow settlement, cumbersome user verification, and regulatory uncertainty. Bluff targets these pain points, positioning itself as the next-generation online betting platform, emphasizing socialization, real-time features, and blockchain-native design.
Entertainment Social Prediction Market
Bluff is not just a prediction market, but an integrated platform combining betting, predictions, and social interaction.
Key features include real-time prediction markets, where users can bet on sports events, political happenings, or entertainment highlights, such as the 2026 World Cup champion or the Oscar Best Picture; binary outcome betting simplifies operations, requiring only a yes/no choice, suitable for beginners. Creator community events allow KOLs to create custom markets, such as "a certain star's new song plays over 100 million times," enabling user participation to earn points.
Open the official website of Bluff, and a distinctive style greets you immediately.
Bluff blurs the boundaries between games, prediction, speculation, and entertainment. Binary outcomes, customized markets, BLUFF's original content designed from scratch, personalized experiences adjusted according to player behavior.
Bluff is building an ecosystem where attention, risk, culture, and capital intersect.
Bluff enables instant transactions using L2, without waiting for block confirmations. Users don't need cumbersome KYC; simply connect your wallet to participate, with a lower barrier than traditional platforms. The platform supports multi-chain assets, such as USDC, ETH.
Beta test data shows an average transaction speed of <1 second; social features integrate X and Discord, allowing users to share predictions, form teams for betting, and increase engagement. Compared to other products, Bluff surpasses Polymarket's single-event predictions by incorporating Stake-like sports betting and Azuro's social layer. Future plans include AI prediction assistance, NFT rewards, and cross-platform live streaming integration.
Bluff also launches a VIP matching program, allowing users to seamlessly transition from traditional platforms such as Stake, Shuffle, and Rollbit to the Bluff platform, providing users with more convenient text services through 24/7 VIP dedicated customer service.
Its transaction volume in the beta version has already exceeded 10 billion US dollars, and the number of users has surpassed 650,000.
Experienced team starts up again, NBA star Thompson participates in investment
Bluff's core team consists of multiple experienced professionals in the betting and gaming industry, with an average of over 15 years of work experience. However, currently, many of its official senior executives are anonymous.
The founder and CEO is a former Stake executive who led Stake's growth from startup to over $10 billion in annual trading volume. The CTO comes from Bet365, responsible for the architecture design of the world's largest sports betting system, ensuring that Bluff's engine can handle thousands of transactions per second. The operations director transferred from Bodog, specializing in localization strategies for the Asian and Latin American markets.
The team consists of about 30 people, 80% of whom have a crypto background, including former Polygon engineers responsible for blockchain integration. Bluff emphasizes a "practical orientation," with many team members having participated in regulatory negotiations, such as EU GDPR compliance and US KYC optimization.
In terms of the investor lineup, Makers Fund is renowned for its investments in gaming and entertainment, managing over $2 billion in assets and having participated in financings for Epic Games and Riot Games; Maximum Frequency Ventures (MFV) focuses on high-frequency trading and Web3 innovations; Delphi Ventures Founders bring venture capital experience, having led early-stage investments in multiple crypto projects. The addition of NBA star Tristan Thompson also injects a sports gene into the team, as he will participate in brand promotion, aiming to attract more sports fans into crypto betting.
Polymarket has gained much attention for political events, Kalshi has rapidly developed in compliance and sports, for Bluff to get a share among giants, it needs to find its own differentiation, whether the social + entertainment integrated model can withstand the test remains to be seen.
Currently, the first season of its points program is online,Participate in the eventPoints can be earned and later redeemed for BLUFF tokens.