Troy Kane is President and COO of InPlay Global, which operates a regulated market for sports performance-based financial instruments. What were the key theme(s) for your business in 2025? In 2025, the central theme for InPlay Global was laying the essential groundwork to introduce our innovative Performance Securities to investors in the year ahead. After […]
Troy Kane is President and COO of InPlay Global, which operates a regulated market for sports performance-based financial instruments.
What were the key theme(s) for your business in 2025?
In 2025, the central theme for InPlay Global was laying the essential groundwork to introduce our innovative Performance Securities to investors in the year ahead. After several years of development, this was the year our concept matured into a fully defined operational and regulatory structure. These securities are not prediction markets; they are longer-term investment products, stocks that trade like an index or ETF products based on the performance of sports teams. They required InPlay to build a market architecture capable of supporting real-time data, transparency, and investor confidence. Much of our efforts this year have focused on ensuring our platform will meet the same expectations placed on traditional financial products.
A major milestone in this journey was the announcement of our partnership with MEMX. Their technology and infrastructure will help support the speed, reliability, and data sophistication essential to our securities. This collaboration became a strategic alignment, with both organizations dedicating extensive effort to define data flows, execution logic, compliance standards, and investor-facing tools. By the end of the year, our regulatory filing progressed to pending approval, a strong indication that our framework is ready for the final stage in the process to bring this new asset class to market.
What was the highlight of 2025?
The highlight of the year was watching our team’s long-standing conceptual work transform into a functioning, scalable ecosystem. The successful integration of our systems with MEMX stood out as a defining moment. Seeing our technology operate end-to-end real-time modeling, clean data ingestion, compliant trade processing provided powerful validation that Performance Securities can operate within established market structures.
Equally impactful was the internal growth and alignment across InPlay Global. Our team expanded in size and capability, demonstrating creativity, resourcefulness, and a shared sense of pride. Stakeholders across the industry such as investors, partners, and market participants have responded with enthusiasm, reinforcing that demand exists for new forms of performance-based investable assets. Moving our regulatory filing into pending approval capped off the year, marking a significant milestone and laying the path toward launch of this new innovative asset class.
What surprised you in 2025?
Two developments in 2025 were particularly surprising: the enormous influx of capital into artificial intelligence and the rapid mainstream adoption of sports-focused prediction markets. AI investment accelerated far beyond expectations, attracting capital from institutional and nontraditional sources, and pushing technological advancements at unprecedented speed. At the same time, prediction markets evolved from niche products into credible financial instruments as improved transparency and regulatory clarity encouraged broader participation. Together, these trends confirmed that investors increasingly embrace real-time, data-driven engagement, reinforcing the market’s readiness for our Performance Securities.
What are your expectations for 2026?
Looking to 2026, I expect continued acceleration in market innovation, especially around emerging asset classes. For InPlay Global, the year will be defined by the launch of our Sports Performance Securities, a milestone that could reshape how investors participate in sports-related financial products. With ongoing regulatory evolution, deepening industry collaboration, and increasing appetite for alternative assets, we anticipate significant adoption and momentum as Performance Securities move into the market as a groundbreaking new category. Next year will be a year of growth in the world of sports business with the World Cup coming to the US and we are looking forward to providing the ability for investors and fans to engage during these exciting sporting events in a stock market environment.