GoKawiilPolymarket removed a forum related to the rescue mission of U.S. military servicemembers amid political pressure, the latest sign of mounting scrutiny around prediction markets.
U.S. and Iranian military forces are searching for a missing American airman after its F-15E fighter jet was shot down over Iran on Friday. One crew member has been rescued, but another is not accounted for.
Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., decried the Polymarket page that allowed users to bet on which day the U.S. would confirm the rescue of the two airmen after an American F-15E fighter jet was shot down over Iran. The lawmaker called the page "DISGUSTING" in an X post.
"They could be your neighbor, a friend, a family member," Moulton wrote on Friday. "And people are betting on whether or not they'll be saved."
In a response on X, Polymarket said: "We took this market down immediately as it does not meet our integrity standards."
"It should not have been posted, and we are investigating how this slipped through our internal safeguards," Polymarket wrote.
In a separate X post, Polymarket said it doesn't "make money or charge any fees on any geopolitical markets."
In an email to CNBC, Moulton said, "Polymarket didn't take that market down because it violated their standards. They took it down because we called them out."
Moulton also said that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has the authority to regulate prediction market platforms, but it is doing nothing.
"That needs to change, too," he said. "Yesterday, there were 219 active bets in Polymarket's 'war' category. Today, there are 223. This is spreading, and Congress needs to act."
... continue reading