Markets
Polymarket hires Goldman Sachs partner Lisa Mantil to build institutional business
By Bear Creek Staff, . Bear Creek Capital Network.
Polymarket has named Lisa Mantil as its head of institutional growth, CNBC reported ahead of a Tuesday announcement, as the prediction market exchange works to attract the kind of large, professional traders that would deepen its liquidity and broaden its credibility.
Mantil spent close to three decades at Goldman Sachs, most recently serving as a partner and as global head of its ETF accelerator, an internal platform that supported clients in designing and launching investment products. In a release quoted by CNBC, she described the move as an opportunity to help shape what she called "an exploding asset class at an inflection point in its development," adding that her career has been spent helping institutions take up new products and break into new markets.
Polymarket founder and chief executive Shayne Coplan said in the same release, as quoted by CNBC, that "Lisa's experience and relationships across the institutional world are world class."
The hire forms part of a wider recruitment drive at Polymarket that came after the formal launch of its exchange in the U.S. in May, according to CNBC. The company announced earlier this month that Warren Jenson, who previously held roles at Amazon and Delta Air Lines, would join as chief financial officer.
The institutional question is the central one for prediction markets right now. Retail volume has surged over the past year, driven largely by sports-related contracts, but platforms need institutional liquidity to support larger positions and tighter pricing. Rival Kalshi completed the sector's first block trade in April, according to CNBC. Block trades are large transactions negotiated privately to limit price impact, a standard mechanism on traditional exchanges. CNBC reported that Polymarket's international platform, which runs on the Polygon blockchain and is unregulated in the United States, carried out its own first block trade a month after Kalshi did.
CNBC also reported, citing brokers working with early institutional participants, that Polymarket has had discussions about enabling block trades on its domestic exchange and is moving toward that capability. Polymarket offered no comment on where block trades stand for its U.S. platform.
The regulatory environment complicates the institutional pitch. Prediction market platforms are in active disputes with state regulators over who has authority to oversee sports-event contracts, and CNBC noted that some institutional players are staying out until that question is resolved. Mantil's background is in product adoption and market entry, not regulatory affairs, so the legal overhang is a separate problem her hire does not directly address.
What to watch: whether Polymarket announces block trade capability on its U.S. exchange in the near term, and whether institutional volume data begins to show up alongside the retail figures that have driven the sector's growth so far. CNBC disclosed that it holds a commercial relationship with Kalshi covering customer acquisition plus a minority investment.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/29/polymarket-lisa-mantil-institutional-growth.html
Bear Creek Capital Network publishes content for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this article constitutes financial, investment, tax or legal advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Consider your own circumstances and consult a qualified professional before making financial decisions.