Polymarket essentially proved that people will bet on anything, from presidential elections to whether a celebrity will post on a given Tuesday. The platform turned prediction markets into a mainstream crypto product, processing billions in volume. But in Japan, where gambling laws make Las Vegas look like a libertarian paradise, that model is a legal landmine.
So Japanese platforms are doing what Japanese companies often do best: innovating within extreme constraints. A growing cohort of domestic startups is building prediction market alternatives that swap cash and crypto for loyalty points and redeemable coins, threading a needle between user engagement and the country’s strict Penal Code.
Points instead of profits
The most notable entrant is POYP, which brands itself as a “prediction market x points-earning” platform. Users forecast outcomes across domains like politics, sports, and culture. Get it right, and you earn coins that can be redeemed for third-party benefits. Get it wrong, and you lose nothing but pride.
By never touching cash or cryptocurrency, POYP sidesteps the core issue that makes prediction markets legally toxic in Japan. Japanese gambling law prohibits monetary stakes on uncertain events. No money in, no money out, no gambling charge.
