Polymarket just closed a funding round at a $9 billion valuation. Looking at the bigger picture, this looks remarkably similar to OpenSea's $13 billion raise back in 2022. Both were riding massive momentum in their respective markets—one in prediction markets, the other in NFTs—only to see reality check in shortly after. The trajectory these projects follow tells us something about how the crypto market prices hype versus fundamentals. When valuations disconnect from adoption metrics, the correction tends to be swift and painful.