Just weeks after Donald Trump Jr. invested in Polymarket and joined the advisory board, the crypto-based prediction markets platform - that rose to prominence during the 2024 presidential election - has reportedly been cleared to enter the United States.
"Polymarket is the largest prediction market in the world, and the U.S. needs access to this important platform," said Donald Trump Jr in mid-August
"Polymarket cuts through media spin and so-called 'expert' opinion by letting people bet on what they actually believe will happen in the world... bringing truth and transparency to everyone – including the U.S."
And now, according to a post on X by Polymarket CEO Shane Coplan, "Polymarket has been given the green light to go live in the USA by the CFTC"
"Credit to the Commission and Staff for their impressive work.
This process has been accomplished in record timing.
Stay tuned"
As The Block reports, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Market Oversight and the Division of Clearing and Risk said Wednesday they have taken a no-action position regarding swap data reporting and recordkeeping regulations for event contracts in response to a request from QCX, a designated contract market, and QC Clearing, a derivatives clearing organization.
The no-action letter applies in "narrow circumstances", the statement said, and is comparable to no-action letters issued for other similarly situated designated contract markets and derivatives clearing organizations.
After a federal investigation was dropped earlier this summer, Polymarket said in July it planned to re-enter the U.S. with the acquisition of derivatives exchange QCEX.
"The divisions will not recommend the CFTC initiate an enforcement action against either entity or their participants for failure to comply with certain swap-related recordkeeping requirements and for failure to report to swap data repositories data associated with binary option transactions and variable payout contract transactions executed on or subject to the rules of QCX LLC and cleared through QC Clearing LLC, subject to the terms of the no-action letter," the statement said.
The number of new markets on Polymarket surged in July, with over 11,500 markets representing a 44% month-over-month increase...
...although a far cry from their January peak. But maybe now that Americans don't need VPNs to access it, things will change.
Additionally, in June, Elon Musk’s X said it was “joining forces” with the prediction platform, and accessibility to the US market directly will surely build that conduit.