Prediction Market Polymarket Banned in Singapore

Polymarket may be on the verge of returning to the United States, but the prediction market site has reportedly been banned in Singapore.

In a Jan. 11 post on X, Alex Zuo, vice president of investment and custody at Cobo Global, posted an image of an official block notice on Polymarket.

It read, “you have attempted to access an illegal gambling site hosted by an unlicensed gambling service provider,” and warned of penalties of up to a S$10,000 fine and up to six months in jail for violating the ban.

It added that the only licensed gambling service in Singapore is the state-owned Singapore Pools, a sports, horse racing and lottery site.

Polymarket also banned French users recently after a run-in with gambling regulators.

Singapore’s enthusiasm for the crypto industry may not extend to Polymarket, but the country has aggressively courted cryptocurrency businesses. According to ApeX Protocol, the tiny city-state had 1,600 patents, 2,433 blockchain-related jobs and hosts 81 exchanges, making it the top jurisdiction in the world for blockchain adoption when adjusted for the size of the country.

While the U.S.’s numbers are an order of magnitude higher, the country’s size and regulatory hostility to crypto kept it at No. 5 on the list. Singapore competitor Hong Kong was No. 2.

Back in the U.S.A.

Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan told CBNC on Nov. 7 that the site would reopen to U.S. residents after a competitor, Kalshi, won a victory over the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in court.

He said, “we are in the position to be aggressive around expansion.”

Polymarket gained prominence after correctly calling the presidential election for Donald Trump well before mainstream media sites did.

But it began blocking U.S. traders in January of 2022, after a settlement with the CFTC.

That didn’t stop it from becoming a lucrative market for election traders, one of whom won $47 million betting on a Trump victory.

The day after Trump’s victory, Polymarket put out a statement saying it had “proved the wisdom of markets over the polls, the media, and the pundits….We are proud to have delivered high quality, transparent data to everyone across the globe and ahead of everyone else."