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U.S. Prosecutors, CFTC Drop Polymarket Investigations
The FBI raided Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan's home last year.
Updated Jul 16, 2025, 1:01 p.m. Published Jul 15, 2025, 4:57 p.m.
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What to know:
- The U.S. Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission dropped their investigations into Polymarket.
- Polymarket was under investigation over whether it allowed U.S.-based bettors to use the platform despite a previous agreement with the CFTC to block U.S. users.
- CoinDesk verified that at least two U.S.-based traders were able to place bets on Polymarket last year.
Prediction markets provider Polymarket is free of U.S. investigations after the Department of Justice and Commodity Futures Trading Commission told Polymarket they had wrapped up their inquiries.
Both the DOJ and CFTC notified Polymarket recently, an individual familiar with the matter told CoinDesk. Bloomberg first reported the news earlier on Tuesday.
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The DOJ was investigating Polymarket last year, reportedly for allowing U.S. users to place bets on the site despite Polymarket being required to block U.S. traders. CoinDesk verified that at least two U.S.-based individuals were able to place bets at the time.
A spokesperson for Polymarket said last year that an FBI raid of Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan's home was "obvious political retribution." However, the spokesperson did not respond to a follow-up question about why the platform thought that.
Spokespeople for the DOJ, CFTC and Polymarket declined to comment on Tuesday.
Political prediction markets have taken off recently in the U.S., with the CFTC dropping its efforts in May to block another platform, Kalshi, in the U.S.
More broadly, the U.S. regulatory regime has changed its approach to digital assets since Donald Trump became president for a second term. The Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped over a dozen investigations and active court cases against crypto firms, while banking regulators have eased their scrutiny of financial services firms that want to engage in crypto activities.
Congress is also on the verge of sending a bill that would govern stablecoins to Trump's desk to be signed into law. The House of Representatives is also close to advancing a bill that would change how regulators approach the digital assets markets at large.
UPDATE (July 15, 2025, 17:02 UTC): Adds CFTC declining to comment.
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