US Elections Push Augur's Total Ether Bets Over $2 Million

U.S. elections drama may be dragging Augur out of the doldrums.

As Tuesday's mid-term elections in the U.S. approach money is pouring into the platform.

The market for "Which party will control the House after 2018 U.S. Midterm Election?" has 3,517 ether or nearly $727,000 staked on it at the time of writing, according to Predictions.

Global, a website allowing users to view and search for Augur markets.

The market has surpassed "Will price of Ethereum exceed $500 at the end of 2018?" - for months the market with the most open interest by a wide margin, with $523,000 staked at the time of writing.

The mid-terms market is also the most liquid on the platform, according to Predictions.

The rush of funds into the mid-terms market - which gives the Democrats a 66 percent chance of taking the House, compared to an 88 percent chance on FiveThirtyEight's poll-based model - has pushed the total dollar amount staked on Augur to a new record: nearly $2.1 million.

Global co-founder Ryan Berckmans, the growth of the midterms market augurs well for the platform.

"It used to be very concentrated" in the market for ether's year-end price, he said.

"That's still a big market, but the diversification into different verticals is a very good sign."