The example of hedging that the author uses in the article is a shipping company that uses a prediction market to hedge against potential losses. A quick look shows that the biggest shipping companies in the world are doing $10 - $50 billion in yearly revenue. The article said liquidity on Iran strikes was half a billion. So it seems your point about a lack of liquidity is spot on. I doubt any large organization is currently able to use prediction markets to hedge in a meaningful way. It looks like an order of magnitude increase is needed.

Scoresby

I think hedging [if it actually works correctly!] is a real societal benefit that could win over a lot of the skeptics. I don't see the current markets quite being there yet, both from a liquidity perspective and simply from perception; however I think this usecase needs to be emphasized better, and possibly even taken into consideration when designing the precise phrasing of questions, because someone looking to hedge a risk usually has a specific scenario in mind, while gamblers will simply look at the odds and gamble accordingly.