Beast Mode

About Beast Mode

SOFTSWISS’s CTO gets candid on AI hype, Tech Race and why the room matters more than the stage.

In July, iGB announced the media partnership between SOFTSWISS and World Gaming for Tech Race Summit 2026 in September.

Recently, Margaret Dunn, portfolio director at WorldGaming, interviewed Sergey Kastukevich, chief technology officer at SOFTSWISS, in a primer of both Tech Race and ICE Hall 7. The pair also shared their perspective on the development of AI in the industry.

What is Beast Mode?

When asked about the Chargers—one of several teams, alongside the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos, seeking to bounce back from a Week 1 upset to avoid an 0-2 start—Kubiak brushed off the narrative during his brief news conference.

That same single-game focus applies to the Raiders, with reporters pressing Kubiak on potential overconfidence following a 27-13 home win over the Miami Dolphins.

“Hopefully [the players] are mature enough to know that one of 17 is nothing,” Kubiak said.

What is Beast Mode?

At the same time, prediction market operators are facing regulatory tussles in the US. State regulators are moving to shut down the firms under gambling laws. The companies say their contracts should be regulated at the federal level as derivatives. 

However, the sector has grown substantially despite such disputes. Bernstein predicted in April that annual prediction market volume could reach $1 trillion by 2030. The research estimated volume was around $51 billion in 2025 and could grow to around $240 billion in 2026. 

The partnership with Yahoo Finance wraps up as prediction markets push for broader distribution across financial media, sports, and entertainment platforms. For Polymarket, the loss of the Yahoo Finance hub is one distribution channel, but other partnerships remain intact.