Federal law enforcement officials raided the home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan on Wednesday.
The prediction market was a breakout success in the U.S. presidential election, a platform where billions of dollars worth of bets were placed on the outcome. Polymarket traders viewed Donald Trump as the likely winner, as indeed he was.
The raid was confirmed by a Polymarket spokesperson. The New York Post and Axios reported the news earlier. According to the Post, the feds took Coplan's phone and other electronic devices. By all accounts, Coplan has not been arrested or charged with any wrongdoing.
"This is obvious political retribution by the outgoing administration against Polymarket for providing a market that correctly called the 2024 presidential election."
Polymarket is supposed to block U.S. persons from accessing its services, after coming to a settlement with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2022.
“It’s discouraging that the current administration would seek a last-ditch effort to go after companies they deem to be associated with political opponents,” Coplan wrote. “We are deeply committed to being non-partisan, and today is no different, but the incumbents should do some self-reflecting and recognize that taking a more pro-business, pro-startup approach may be what would have changed their fate this election.”
The Department of Justice is investigating Polymarket for allegedly allowing US-based users to bet on the site, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday evening.
This can be one of the last actions done under the Biden administration that touched on players that has something to do with the cryptocurrency industry and its supporting industries. While I believe that the feds may have some basis for its action, this is really leaving some bitter taste on the mouth. While Polymarket was generally favoring Trump on its platform as predicting correctly what can be in the election, the CEO was actually a donor to the failed billion-dollar campaign of Kamala Harris which eventually did not save him from the lawfare still happening under Biden. the good news is that Shayne Coplan is not charged with anything...maybe he should be prosecuted for allowing Trump be the winner (just kidding).For what happened at the end of 2020, this election was more peaceful and we did not witness any extreme events after the final results. I thought Trump would still be inaugurated at the end of January and we would begin a new era for crypto in the US and then globally.
How do you see this development? And do you think there can be more surprises like this before January 20?
How do you see this development? And do you think there can be more surprises like this before January 20?
They accuse Polymarket of manipulating the US election by placing $3.7 billion in bets on the “Winner 2024” market, leading some critics to question the platform’s influence on the outcome of the presidential election. That’s nonsense, of course.
A Polymarket spokesperson described the raid as “clear political retaliation” against the Biden administration. I don’t know if that’s true, but since they didn’t arrest CEO Shayne Coplan and only confiscated his phone and electronics, they don’t have any evidence against him. They may have taken his personal belongings to find any evidence.
to me it feels unnecessary for them to raid his house what were they trying to find? they were already investigating his company but why go and search his house? as if he had hidden a person there lol it’s giving me a hard time to think about why they would do this aside from simply disrespecting crypto ceos/platforms(https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/zlJtbjkzebc930bjSOsIVQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MDtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/coindesk_75/cc9491470c22c11e2f6ee814cf225fbe)
How do you see this development? And do you think there can be more surprises like this before January 20?with bitcoin doing so well and many projects coming out i think so there’s still 2 months left under this presidency and sec can still pretty much do anything until the chair gets replaced so i believe this will not be the last act of injustice towards cryptocurrency that we will see
How do you see this development? And do you think there can be more surprises like this before January 20?
It's actually illegal to involved US election to gambling but the fact that it was a decentralized platform, I'm not sure if there is any law that criminalized such kind of activities. If his case becomes big, if Trump comes to the white house, his case will be table and will be free from any investigation unless if there is another crime he might have done.
is the reason is US citizen is betting on its market as what i read. why didn't file lawsuit to the market instead?According to what I read on Cointelegraph:
surprisingly they accepted money from this guy in support for Kamala which i guess they couldn't file a lawsuit for operating a gambling platform.
US residents are prohibited from placing bets on the platform, but some Americans may be able to circumvent this ban using virtual private networks (VPNs).https://cointelegraph.com/news/polymarket-checks-for-banned-us-users-amid-media-scrutiny
Polymarket has been checking to ensure that the “whales” who placed large bets ahead of the US presidential election are located outside the US.
is the reason is US citizen is betting on its market as what i read. why didn't file lawsuit to the market instead?According to what I read on Cointelegraph:
surprisingly they accepted money from this guy in support for Kamala which i guess they couldn't file a lawsuit for operating a gambling platform.QuoteUS residents are prohibited from placing bets on the platform, but some Americans may be able to circumvent this ban using virtual private networks (VPNs).https://cointelegraph.com/news/polymarket-checks-for-banned-us-users-amid-media-scrutiny
Polymarket has been checking to ensure that the “whales” who placed large bets ahead of the US presidential election are located outside the US.
This means that there may have been some manipulation by US users, but Polymarket can’t be blamed if they were using a VPN. Polymarket has verified that the whales are located outside the US, but it’s difficult for them to track all of their users.
~Does it really matter if it was centralized or decentralized when there was already a previous agreement (2022) between Poly and the US Government that they cannot allow Americans to use their platform?
It's actually illegal to involved US election to gambling but the fact that it was a decentralized platform, I'm not sure if there is any law that criminalized such kind of activities.
They accuse Polymarket of manipulating the US election by placing $3.7 billion in bets on the “Winner 2024” market, leading some critics to question the platform’s influence on the outcome of the presidential election. That’s nonsense, of course.
A Polymarket spokesperson described the raid as “clear political retaliation” against the Biden administration. I don’t know if that’s true, but since they didn’t arrest CEO Shayne Coplan and only confiscated his phone and electronics, they don’t have any evidence against him. They may have taken his personal belongings to find any evidence.
Government can do anything to any length to make sure that they deal with everyone interested to making things get more difficult for them, though as of this case, they are only working on assumption because all these are not going to work as they thought, because the intention was not to make manipulation, but instead to support for both bitcoin and the presidential candidate financial demands towards the election.Yes, it is true that the government can do anything, even this illegal raid on Coplan's apartment.
This can be one of the last actions done under the Biden administration that touched on players that has something to do with the cryptocurrency industry and its supporting industries. While I believe that the feds may have some basis for its action, this is really leaving some bitter taste on the mouth. While Polymarket was generally favoring Trump on its platform as predicting correctly what can be in the election, the CEO was actually a donor to the failed billion-dollar campaign of Kamala Harris which eventually did not save him from the lawfare still happening under Biden. the good news is that Shayne Coplan is not charged with anything...maybe he should be prosecuted for allowing Trump be the winner (just kidding).They can't arrest someone for doing what's their right to do but with these house raids they can scare few but till 20th Jan they can only scare others and the supports of Trump who backed him and according to news Donald has increased the security of his house maybe he also fear something.
How do you see this development? And do you think there can be more surprises like this before January 20?
It's actually illegal to involved US election to gamblingAs far as i know it is no longer illegal for U.S. citizens to bet on the U.S. elections, and Polymarket does not even allow U.S. customers to use their platform, so i don't see the reason for the arrest, if not political issues. Though the FBI may claim that U.S. citizens still find a way to use the platform without detection.
It's actually illegal to involved US election to gamblingAs far as i know it is no longer illegal for U.S. citizens to bet on the U.S. elections, and Polymarket does not even allow U.S. customers to use their platform, so i don't see the reason for the arrest, if not political issues. Though the FBI may claim that U.S. citizens still find a way to use the platform without detection.
I’m still amazed and surprised why FBI will arrest polymarket CEO when all the actions that happened was not from US itself. I imagine how FBI have access to big companies like this that are not even regulated under their jurisdiction. If US citizens are not allowed to use those services, if they bypass and find their way to use it, I think it’s not of the company to be held responsible for that.