EddieJayonCrypto
15 Jul 25
Two federal investigations into Polymarket, an online prediction betting site, have been closed with no charges filed. The U.S. Justice Department and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) ended their civil and criminal probes, which examined whether Polymarket accepted bets from U.S. resident...
Two federal investigations into the online prediction betting site Polymarket have been closed with no charges filed, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC. Polymarket received declination notices from both the U.S. Justice Department and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) indicating that the probes—a civil and a criminal investigation—were completed with no further action planned.
The investigations focused on whether Polymarket accepted bets from U.S. residents despite earlier assurances in 2022 that it would not. These assurances followed a $1.4 million fine from the CFTC, which found that Polymarket failed to register as a facility for event-based binary options. The criminal investigation was conducted by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office, which declined to comment on the case.
The conclusion of these inquiries marks another instance of the Trump administration ceasing actions initiated under the Biden administration against crypto companies and online betting markets. For example, the CFTC recently dropped its appeal regarding the election betting platform KalshiEx.
Nearly nine months ago, FBI agents raided Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan’s New York City apartment, confiscating electronic devices, though Coplan was never criminally charged. Despite the scrutiny, Polymarket processed over $3.6 billion in bets on the presidential election last year, demonstrating the platform’s significant role in the emerging market for prediction betting.