The Defiant

Polymarket Shuts Out U.S. Traders to Comply with CFTC Settlement

Polymarket has complied with a CFTC settlement and blocked U.S. residents from its prediction market.

By: Brady Dale Loading...

Polymarket Shuts Out U.S. Traders to Comply with CFTC Settlement

Polymarket has shut U.S. traders out of its bets, but the prediction market remains live everywhere else.

That’s the company’s solution following its recent settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Polymarket is a prediction market that came out of stealth in June 2020. Calling it an “event-based binary options market” the CFTC brought suit against the company that runs Polymarket, which is based in New York City. It was settled with a $1.4M penalty and an agreement to cease its violations of various rules cited in the order. The order stipulated that Polymarket would certify that it had ceased offering such products by Jan. 24.

The company first informed its users that it would block users in the United States on Jan. 12.

In a message from Autumn Communications on behalf of Polymarket, the company announced that it was working on a regulated product for the U.S. market. “For those who reside outside of the U.S., Polymarket.com is available for trading,” the statement said.“This geoblocking allows Polymarket to continue to provide individuals with an alternative source of information while working through the regulation process and focusing on the future of the company.”

In a compliance update earlier this month, the company wrote, “As Polymarket continues to grow, our core mission remains the same: to harness the power of free markets to demystify the real world events that matter most to you.”

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