Elections attract global interest. So do inflation reports, commodity prices, private company valuations, and major corporate milestones. The crypto industry is now pursuing the idea that attention itself is economically valuable. If people care about any given development, there is probably demand for a market that reflects collective expectations about it.

In effect, blockchain technology enables the transformation of observation into participation from anywhere in the world. Rather than simply watching events unfold, individuals can contribute to a market-based assessment of what those events are worth or how likely they are to occur.

So there is an expansion of scope of what can become measurable through markets. Categories of human…