Polymarket is facing renewed scrutiny from federal regulators over whether it violated a 2022 settlement requiring the prediction market giant to block American traders from its offshore platform, according to a report.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether the New York-headquartered company — which runs a platform based in Panama — took adequate steps to block US users following the agreement, Reuters reported Tuesday. It cited two people familiar with the matter.
The inquiry covers Polymarket’s methods for determining customers’ locations and its US advertising activities.
News of the probe comes just days after The Post was first to report that Polymarket dismissed a top executive who was closely allied with CEO Shayne Coplan.
The exec, Matthew Modabber, served as Polymarket’s chief marketing officer beginning in January 2024. He was let go following a string of incidents that prompted an internal investigation.
The CFTC inquiry concerns the company’s past safeguards rather than current access to its offshore platform, a source familiar with the situation told The Post.
The commission is separately examining a newer, regulated US operation that Polymarket runs. That probes focuses on customer registration procedures and trader protections, Reuters reported.
The latest probe follows similar investigations that the CFTC and Justice Department closed last year without bringing charges. Neither agency has publicly explained those decisions.
Polymarket agreed to restrict US trading on Polymarket.com in January 2022 after the CFTC accused it of illegally operating an unregistered derivatives trading platform.
The company was fined $1.4 million and agreed to stop offering access to trading that did not comply with federal regulations.
The restrictions prompted questions during the 2024 presidential election, when billions of dollars in wagers poured into prediction markets amid concerns that Americans were using virtual private networks, or VPNs, to disguise their locations.
The scrutiny culminated in an FBI raid on Coplan’s Manhattan home in November 2024.
In July 2025, the exec announced that the CFTC and Justice Department had closed their investigations, declaring that Polymarket had been “cleared of any wrongdoing.”
Six days later, the company announced its $112 million acquisition of a federally regulated derivatives exchange and clearinghouse, paving the way for its return to the US market.
Polymarket began rolling out its federally regulated US platform to select American customers late last year, marking its return to the domestic market after nearly four years.
The probe comes as prediction markets have expanded rapidly under President Trump, whose son Donald Trump Jr. is an investor in Polymarket.
The industry’s rapid growth has also raised concerns among lawmakers and advocacy groups that traders could exploit confidential information to profit from bets on real-world events.
In April, federal authorities charged US Army soldier Gannon Ken Van Dyke with using classified intelligence about the operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to make more than $400,000 in profits on Polymarket’s offshore platform.
Prosecutors alleged that Van Dyke used a VPN to disguise his location and gain access to the site. He has pleaded not guilty.
Polymarket said at the time that it had referred the matter to authorities.
The company has maintained that its safeguards block the vast majority of unauthorized American traders and that attempts to evade its geographic restrictions are uncommon.
Spokespeople for the CFTC and Polymarket declined to comment to Reuters. The company also declined to comment to The Post.
