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Binary Prediction Markets

Blink runs prediction markets on crypto price movements using Pyth oracle feeds. Each market is a simple question:
“Will BTC’s price be higher or lower at the end of this market window than it was at the start?”
Two outcome tokens are created for each market:
  • YES token (UP) — pays $1.00 if the price closes higher
  • NO token (DOWN) — pays $1.00 if the price closes lower
Token prices reflect the market’s probability estimate. If UP trades at $0.65, the market thinks there’s a ~65% chance the stock goes up.

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Market Lifecycle

┌──────────┐    ┌──────────┐    ┌──────────┐    ┌──────────┐
│ Created  │───▶│  Active  │───▶│ Resolved │───▶│ Redeemed │
│          │    │ (Trading)│    │ (Outcome)│    │ (Payout) │
└──────────┘    └──────────┘    └──────────┘    └──────────┘
                  Trading          Automatic       Automatic
  1. Created — Market window scheduled
  2. Active — Trading open. Buy/sell YES and NO tokens.
  3. Resolved — Window closes. Pyth oracle determines outcome.
  4. Redeemed — Winning tokens automatically redeemed for $1.00 USDC each.

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Token Pricing

Prices are always between 0.01and0.01 and 0.99:
YES PriceNO PriceMarket View
$0.80$0.2080% probability price goes up
$0.50$0.50Equal probability (coin flip)
$0.30$0.7070% probability price goes down
YES + NO always sums to ~$1.00 (minus spread). This is enforced by the MINT/MERGE mechanism:
  • MINT: Buy YES at 0.60+BuyNOat0.60 + Buy NO at 0.40 = $1.00 → 1 YES + 1 NO minted
  • MERGE: Sell YES at 0.60+SellNOat0.60 + Sell NO at 0.40 = 1 YES + 1 NO burned → $1.00 returned

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Order Types

TypeBehavior
GTC (Good Till Cancel)Rests on the book until filled or cancelled. Default.
GTD (Good Till Date)Rests until the specified expiration time.
FOK (Fill or Kill)Must fill entirely or is rejected. No partial fills.
IOC / FAK (Immediate or Cancel)Fills what it can immediately, cancels the rest. Called FAK in the Python SDK.
Post-only: Add post_only=True to reject orders that would match immediately. Useful for market makers who want to provide liquidity, not take it.

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Amount Encoding

All amounts use 6 decimal places internally (matching USDC’s 6 decimals):
Human ValueRaw ValueMeaning
1 USDC1,000,000One dollar
100 tokens100,000,000One hundred contracts
$0.50500,000Fifty cents
The SDK handles all conversions. Pass human-readable numbers (price=0.50, size=20) and the SDK converts to raw amounts. For BUY orders:
  • makerAmount = size × price × 1,000,000 (USDC you pay)
  • takerAmount = size × 1,000,000 (tokens you receive)
For SELL orders:
  • makerAmount = size × 1,000,000 (tokens you give)
  • takerAmount = size × price × 1,000,000 (USDC you receive)

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Authentication

Blink uses the same two-level auth as Polymarket:

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Level 1 — EIP-712 (Wallet Proof)

Used once to create API credentials. Your wallet signs a typed data message proving ownership. The private key never leaves your machine.

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Level 2 — HMAC-SHA256 (Trading)

Used for every trading request. Four headers are required:
HeaderValue
BLINK-API-KEYUUID from credential creation
BLINK-SIGNATUREHMAC-SHA256 of {timestamp}{METHOD}{path}{body}, URL-safe base64 encoded
BLINK-TIMESTAMPUnix seconds
BLINK-PASSPHRASEPassphrase from credential creation
The SDK handles all signing automatically.

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Settlement

Every matched trade is settled on-chain via the Base network:
  1. Order matches in the matching engine (~1ms)
  2. Settlement TX submitted to Base (~100ms)
  3. TX confirmed on-chain (~2 seconds)
  4. CTF tokens minted/transferred to wallets
  5. Activity feed updated with on-chain TX hash
Settlement is fully automatic. You don’t need to claim or withdraw — tokens appear in your wallet.

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Resolution and Redemption

When a market’s window closes:
  1. Pyth oracle provides the closing price
  2. Adapter contract compares open vs close price → determines UP or DOWN outcome
  3. CTF contract sets payout ratios (winning side = 1.00,losingside=1.00, losing side = 0.00)
  4. Auto-redemption burns winning tokens and sends USDC to holders
  5. All happens typically within 30–60 seconds of market close

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WebSocket Channels

Three real-time channels for different use cases:
ChannelURLAuthUse Case
/ws/marketPublicNoneOrderbook snapshots, trades, market events
/ws/pricePublicNonePyth oracle price ticks
/ws/userPrivateAPI credsFills, cancels, balance updates, positions