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Polymarket CEO's Home Is Raided by FBI

"This is obvious political retribution," said a Polymarket spokesperson. Bloomberg reported that DOJ is investigating the company for letting U.S. users access the site.

Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan's home was reportedly raided. (CoinDesk)
Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan's home was reportedly raided. (CoinDesk)

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.

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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.

Read more: Polymarket's Probe Highlights Challenges of Blocking U.S. Users (and Their VPNs)

Bloomberg later reported that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Polymarket for allegedly letting U.S. users access the site.

"This is obvious political retribution by the outgoing administration against Polymarket for providing a market that correctly called the 2024 presidential election," the spokesperson said in a statement. "Polymarket is a fully transparent prediction market that helps everyday people better understand the events that matter most to them, including elections."

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.

A CFTC spokesperson told CoinDesk on Oct. 30 that, "Polymarket is required to adhere to the terms of the settlement they reached with the CFTC. Full stop. That means they cannot accept any business from people living in the United States or US persons as we write in the order. It’s pretty clear. It is incumbent on the company to comply with the law."

Despite this ban, Americans can trade on the platform though virtual private networks, or VPNs, which can be used to circumvent that prohibition. CoinDesk confirmed at least two Americans were able to place trades ahead of the 2024 election from locations in the U.S.

Last month, responding to a question from CoinDesk about price discrepancies between Polymarket and U.S.-regulated prediction market platforms, attorney Aaron Brogan said: "Legally, these markets should have limited user overlap, but anecdotally I’ve heard enough stories about individuals in the US using VPNs to access Polymarket that I doubt this is a practical barrier to efficient pricing between the markets."

Coplan seemed to be in good spirits late Wednesday afternoon, making a wry reference to the morning's events in a post on X.

Marc Hochstein contributed reporting.

UPDATE (Nov. 13, 2024, 21:27 UTC): Adds statement from Polymarket.

UPDATE (Nov. 13, 21:35 UTC): Adds additional information.

UPDATE (Nov. 13, 22:15 UTC): Adds quote from Aaron Brogan.

Nick Baker

Nick Baker was CoinDesk's deputy editor-in-chief. He won a Loeb Award for editing CoinDesk's coverage of FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried, including Ian Allison's scoop that caused SBF's empire to collapse. Before joining in 2022, he worked at Bloomberg News for 16 years as a reporter, editor and manager. Previously, he was a reporter at Dow Jones Newswires, wrote for The Wall Street Journal and earned a journalism degree from Ohio University. He owns more than $1,000 of BTC and SOL.

Nick Baker
Nikhilesh De

Nikhilesh De is CoinDesk's managing editor for global policy and regulation, covering regulators, lawmakers and institutions. When he's not reporting on digital assets and policy, he can be found admiring Amtrak or building LEGO trains. He owns < $50 in BTC and < $20 in ETH. He was named the Association of Cryptocurrency Journalists and Researchers' Journalist of the Year in 2020.

Nikhilesh De