Inferno Star

About Inferno Star

iGB is now accepting submissions for its 2026 Most Influential Women initiative. We’re looking for entries reflecting the vast diversity of the sector and its talent, across all markets, channels and departments.

We will accept admissions via this form until 1 October. Please do nominate all the impressive women around you, including peers, friends, colleagues, bosses, partners and even yourselves!

Initiatives like MIW help the sector shine a light on those championing change and charting the industry’s next big movements.

About Inferno Star

The investment banking and capital markets firm Jefferies said in a September report that sports had become prediction markets’ “most important liquidity driver”, with combo and parlay-style contracts accounting for an increasing share of activity. But the analysts cautioned that prediction markets are scale businesses with relatively low revenue yields, leaving their economics dependent on sustained liquidity, engagement and trading activity.

James Monk, founder of sports data and streaming provider Catalist Sports, has witnessed that dependence directly. Catalist supplies ITF tennis data to Kalshi and Polymarket and has an exclusive US sports-streaming agreement with Kalshi.

The company must also provide data to the firms making markets on those events.

What is Inferno Star?

The initial batch of FSPIs launched with NHL performance gauges, triggering a wave of filings from exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuers seeking to launch futures-based funds for each professional hockey team. One issuer even filed plans for leveraged ETFs tied to the NHL indexes.

A similar scenario is playing out on the back of the MLB index introduction. Both LeagueShares and RexShares filed plans for ETFs tied to the FutureSports MLB indexes.

If approved, the funds would hold baskets of the CME-traded derivatives. LeagueShares went a step further by adding a filing for 2x leveraged MLB futures funds.