The first presidential debate descends into an international joke, with FTX Trump contracts dropping by 7% and Biden contracts hitting a new high.

The historically chaotic U.S. presidential debate ended on the evening of the 29th, during which Trump and presidential candidate Biden criticized each other on issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, white supremacy, and the economy, but more prominently displayed scenes of constant mutual attacks and insults. Currently, both the derivative exchange FTX and prediction platform Augur indicate that Trump's chances of re-election are in crisis.

Surge in Trading Volume During Debate Period

FTX launched its "Trump 2020" futures contract in February this year. Similar to other futures contracts on FTX, users can go long or short up to 100x leverage with any available collateral. The contract will settle at a price of $1 upon expiration if elected, and $0 if not.

When "Trump 2020" was introduced in February, it briefly reached $0.65 and has since been on a slow decline. However, during the debate period, trading volume for "Trump 2020" saw a significant increase. The price before the debate remained at $0.44, but has dropped nearly 7% to $0.40 at the time of writing.

Meanwhile, "Biden 2020" has surged by 8.08%, with the price reaching $0.602 before the closing.

This year, the deployment of the V2 version and the Ethereum-based decentralized prediction market Augur also showed similar results, indicating Biden leading Trump with a probability of close to 60%.

Crypto Community Disappointed

Regarding the first presidential debate turning into a "verbal fight" and becoming an international joke, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin described it as "horrible to watch" in atweet, while Morgan Creek co-founder Anthony Pompliano stated:

It's just so crazy, these are the best two candidates we have for the US presidential election.

Pretty crazy that these are the best two people our country could come up with to be President

— Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) September 30, 2020

After the debate ended in a farce-like manner, the Volatility Index (VIX) on the Chicago Board Options Exchange, also known as the fear index, displayed concerns about the uncertainty of the presidential election, with futures hitting a peak after the conclusion of the U.S. presidential election in November.

Due to the unprecedented chaos of the event, the Commission on Presidential Debates issued a statement on the 30th, announcing adjustments for the next debate to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues.