- FBI agents raided Polymarket CEO Adam Coplan’s home on Nov. 13, seizing several of his devices.
- Polymarket’s $3B election-related trades drew focus, with FBI probing political event contracts.
- Regulatory concerns rise as Polymarket, Kalshi, and Robinhood face scrutiny over election betting.
Polymarket CEO Adam Coplan’s Soho apartment was searched by FBI agents on November 13, and some of his devices were confiscated. The New York Post reported that the authorities woke Coplan up, but they did not clearly explain the reason for the raid. The circumstances of the investigation evoked the recent events and some sources close to the matter claim that it can be connected with the Polymarket platform itself.
Coplan has not issued any public comments on the raid and his social media presence has been relatively low since the posts he made after the 2024 US election. The raid happened only few days after the presidential election, where Republican candidate Donald Trump defeated the Democrat candidate Kamala Harris. The platform had become a go-to platform for users who were betting on the election results, with more than $3 billion in the trading volume connected to the election.
Polymarket’s Election Betting Controversy
The report claimed that the FBI could be interested in Polymarket connected with contracts for political events, especially linked to the election. If the investigation goes further than Polymarket, other firms, including Kalshi and Robinhood, may also find themselves under the radar. These platforms also introduced similar event contracts during the same election cycle and there was the question of the regulatory problems they could encounter.
Platfrom’s election contracts became popular especially when the odds on the site predicted Trump’s win few weeks to the election. This in turn resulted in increased focus on the performance of the platform. Some of the critics have accused the company of possible market rigging, especially after a French national, the so-called ‘whale,’ placed many large bets on Trump.
Polymarket’s Legal Concerns
The controversy surrounding these large bets has been ratcheted up since a New York Times article recently revealed potential manipulation issues. The French bettor stood his ground and said that his choices were informed by national polls and previous voters’ trends. However, the continuing expansion of the platform in the political betting niche has attracted the attention of regulators and the general public.
Polymarket’s positive experience as a prediction market has raised questions about its legal and moral stance on political events betting. The platform also attracted attention of governments after the 2024 election, with the French government threatening to block Polymarket and ban its users from betting on the French elections. The future and the place of platfrom and the position within the political prediction market are still open as the investigations are going on.
