Place a bet

This guide walks you through placing a bet on Cyphers - from picking a market to confirming the transaction. The Quickstart covers the high-level flow; this page goes deeper on the parts where users get stuck.

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What you need

• A connected Solana wallet (Phantom, Solflare, Backpack, etc.).
• A small SOL balance for the transaction fee.
• USDC to bet with - minimum $1.

If you don’t have any of these set up, the Quickstart walks through getting your first wallet ready.

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Find the right market

Open the Markets page. Every card shows you:

• The question - what the market is about.
• The current split - how the pool is divided between sides. This is the market’s consensus, not yours.
• The total pool - how much USDC has been bet so far.
• The close time - when betting stops.
• The status badge - whether the market is open, closed, or resolved.

Only markets in the Betting phase accept new bets. The status badge tells you at a glance.

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Pick a side

Click into a market and you’ll see the bet panel. For a YesNo market: two buttons, YES and NO. Click whichever side you think is right. For a MultiOutcome market: one button per option (2 to 4 options). Each option is a labelled possibility chosen by the market creator. Pick one. The app instantly shows you:

• The current pool split - what other bettors collectively think.
• Your prospective odds - the multiplier you’d lock in if you bet now.

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Choose an amount

Type the amount you want to bet in USDC. The app shows a live preview:

• The two fees coming out (protocol + market-creator).
• The net amount that enters the pool.
• Your projected payout if you win.

The minimum is $1. The maximum is your USDC balance.

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Confirm the transaction

Click Bet. Your wallet pops up asking you to sign. Once you approve, the app walks through six quick stages:

1. Validating - checking the market is still in the betting phase.
2. Preparing - fetching the latest fees and the encryption key.
3. Encrypting - your browser scrambles your side using a fresh key.
4. Submitting - the transaction lands on Solana (about one second).
5. Awaiting MPC - Arcium decrypts your bet inside its secure network and updates the market’s pools (about ten seconds).
6. Finalizing - your position appears in your Positions tab.

The whole thing typically takes 10–30 seconds. You can leave the page once you see “submitting” - the app will pick up where it left off when you come back.

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What just happened to your side

When you clicked Bet, your browser:

1. Generated a fresh random key (32 bytes).
2. Used that key to scramble your side (YES, NO, or option index) into 32 bytes of noise.
3. Sent the noise to Solana, along with your stake.
4. Saved the key to your browser’s local storage so you can see your own side later.

Nobody - not other bettors, not the protocol, not anyone watching the blockchain - can read your side until the market settles. That’s the whole point. For a deeper look at the encryption, see How privacy works.

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See your position

Open the Positions tab. Your new bet appears with:

• The side you picked (visible to you only).
• Your stake.
• The odds you locked in.
• The market’s current status.

You can place more bets on the same market - each one becomes a separate position, with its own key. The app handles that for you automatically.

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What happens next

After the market closes:

• The resolver posts the real-world outcome.
• Arcium decrypts every position and computes payouts.
• A 24–48 hour challenge window opens for anyone to flag a bad resolution.
• After the window passes undisputed, the market becomes claimable and winners can claim.

For the full timeline, see Market lifecycle.

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What’s next

• Claim payout - what to do when the market resolves.
• Dispute resolution - what to do if a result looks wrong.
• FAQ - quick answers to common bet-related questions.