Finance News
By Jean-Luc Maracon
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Why South Korea Moved Against Users, Not Just the Platform. Most countries that have cracked down on prediction markets went after the platforms — ISP blocks,…
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Brazil, India, Spain — The Global Crackdown Spreads. Brazil's National Monetary Council moved through Resolution No.
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The US Situation Is Messier. America's regulatory picture is kind of a tangle. Kalshi operates under a designated contract…
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South Korean police are going after individual users. Not the platform. The people who actually placed bets.
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The Gangwon Provincial Police Agency launched a probe into domestic Polymarket users following wagers placed on the June 3 local elections.
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The scale of activity that triggered all this is pretty striking. Polymarket's market on the 2026 Seoul mayoral election alone pulled in $52.2 million in total trading volume.
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South Korea isn't exactly an outlier in terms of crypto engagement. It ranked 15th in the 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, so there's a real user base here, and authorities…
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Five other countries that rank among the top crypto adoption markets have also moved against prediction platforms.
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Brazil's National Monetary Council moved through Resolution No. 5,298, which blocked several platforms including Polymarket.
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India went a different route. Prediction markets there got classified as prohibited online money gaming, which triggered blocking orders against Polymarket.
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Spain ordered internet service providers to block both Polymarket and Kalshi. The country's gambling watchdog, the DGOJ, has disciplinary proceedings underway that are expected…
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Indonesia blocked Polymarket after markets opened on whether President Prabowo Subianto might leave office before his term ended.
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America's regulatory picture is kind of a tangle. Kalshi operates under a designated contract market license from the CFTC, which gives it federal legitimacy.
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On top of that, the US House Oversight Committee is investigating whether government officials traded on inside information through prediction market platforms.
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The federal-versus-state tension isn't close to resolved. And the oversight probe adds another layer of scrutiny that platforms probably didn't plan for when they were building…
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