Remember when Polymarket beat all the polls and predicted the presidential election closer than anyone?
They relied on actual humans putting down actual money on the election, and not on what some "experts" said.
So here's where we're at with the Polymarket story now:
Polymarket predicted not only a Trump victory, but a decisive one. People are saying this was political retribution for the platform's correct prediction which, in a liberal's mind, may have swung the election in Trump's favor.
Billionaire Trump supporter Peter Thiel raised about $70 million in funding for Polymarket, according to a Forbes report earlier this year.
Coplan has also been photographed looking chummy with Donald Trump Jr.
It runs a bit deeper than that, however, so let's take a look at some other possible reasons for this raid.
FBI agents raided the Manhattan apartment of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan early Wednesday morning — just a week after the election-betting platform successfully predicted Donald Trump's stunning victory, The Post has learned.
The 26-year-old entrepreneur was roused from bed in his Soho pad at 6 a.m. by US law enforcement who demanded he turn over his phone and other electronic devices, a source close to the matter told The Post …
Polymarket does not allow trading in the US, though bettors can bypass the ban by accessing the site through VPN.
The FBI's investigation comes a week after Coplan said Polymarket is planning to return to the US.
Let's assume the FBI isn't acting like the FBI and actually had a reason for this raid. So why was Polymarket not allowed to do business in the U.S.?
In 2022, the online gambling platform was forced to pause its trading in the US and pay a $1.4 million penalty to settle charges with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that it had failed to register with the agency.
Here's another possibility:
One week before the election, a Fortune report said analysts at two crypto research firms found widespread evidence of wash-trading on Polymarket - an illegal form of market manipulation in which a trader buys and sells the same entity to create a false impression of market activity.
But, uhh,
‘Polymarket's Terms of Use expressly prohibit market manipulation,' a Polymarket spokesperson told Fortune in a statement.
One last possibility here before we go back to treating the FBI like they're the FBI:
The betting platform is facing scrutiny from France's gambling regulator, Autorité Nationale des Jeux, to make sure Polymarket complies with the country's laws.
'We are aware of this site and are currently examining its operation and compliance with French gambling legislation,' a spokesperson for the regulator told Bloomberg.
…
New gambling markets are required to receive advanced approval from the regulator.
The so-called French whale who cashed in on Trump's win goes by the alias Théo. He previously said his bets were simply about making money and he denied claims that he was trying to influence the election outcome.
Yeah, I think we all know why the FBI raided Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan's apartment.
I'll leave you with this from the CEO himself:
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