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Polymarket has reportedly held talks with the European Commission, ESMA and the UK's FCA to be regulated under MiFID financial rules rather than gambling law. The prediction-market platform hopes this reclassification would let it reverse bans imposed by Spain and France, which currently require it to hold a gambling license to operate.
Abhishek Fatehpuria, Robinhood's VP of Product Management for Brokerage, will speak at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, held October 13-15 in San Francisco, on a session titled 'Winning the Modern Financial Consumer.' He will discuss how Robinhood has expanded from commission-free stock trading into banking, credit, crypto, retirement products and prediction markets, reflecting the company's growth to 28.6 million funded customers and $384 billion in platform assets as of August 2026.
Polymarket runs a daily newsletter summarizing news events tied to its betting markets, resembling a political news roundup rather than a financial disclosure. Both Polymarket and rival Kalshi have struck data-sharing partnerships with major media companies—Polymarket with Dow Jones and Substack, Kalshi with CNN, CNBC, and Fox—embedding themselves into roughly a quarter of top S&P 500 communications firms, though none of these deals involve actual trading.
Saudi Arabia closed its East-West pipeline, which can carry 7 million barrels of oil per day and bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, after saying it was damaged by drones launched from Iraq. The closure pushed both U.S. West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude futures up more than 3%, and prompted the postponement of a planned diplomatic meeting between Iran and Gulf Arab states on Hormuz security. The disruption comes as U.S. crude prices had already topped $100 a barrel last week amid escalating Middle East fighting.
Documents obtained by WIRED via a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that CFTC chairman Michael Selig authorized at least three previously unreported investigations into trading on Polymarket. One order, signed in early May, targeted possible insider trading tied to Biden-era pardon markets, following an NPR report on a trader who made over $300,000 betting correctly on pardons for figures like Liz Cheney and Adam Schiff. A second order in late May authorized scrutiny of Iran-related event contracts, coming shortly after a 60 Minutes segment exposed accounts that earned $2.4 million with a suspicious 98 percent win rate.
LeBron James has become Polymarket's first individually signed NBA athlete partner, according to The Athletic. The announcement sparked backlash on social media, with fans accusing him of 'selling out' to a betting-adjacent platform despite his wealth.
Prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket are becoming central to how political campaigns and media frame the midterm elections, with real-money bets on outcomes shaping coverage and strategy. Alongside their growing influence, lobbying spending tied to these platforms has surged, and questions about insider trading on political events are intensifying.
An editorial in Nature argues that prediction markets allowing wagers on the outcomes of clinical trials pose risks to research integrity and public trust in science. It calls for limits on such betting activity to prevent interference with ongoing trials.
Unionized staff at The New York Times and The Athletic issued a unanimous statement opposing a potential deal linking The Athletic with prediction-market company Kalshi. They cite New York's attorney general, who found Kalshi operates as an illegal, unlicensed gambling platform posing financial risk to users, and argue that any deeper partnership would compromise journalistic independence and credibility.
Polymarket has reportedly raised $300 million from 1789 Capital, an investment fund with Donald Trump Jr. as a partner, as part of a roughly $1 billion funding round according to the Wall Street Journal. This adds to a prior $200 million investment from the same fund, which has also backed other controversial ventures like the Enhanced Games.
Prediction market Kalshi has permanently banned former Rep. George Santos and fined him $71,356, citing his lack of cooperation during an internal insider-trading probe. Santos had profited over $17,500 by betting he'd skip the State of the Union, then selling those contracts after publicly claiming he'd attend. He previously settled separate CFTC charges over the same scheme, paying more than $35,000 and receiving a three-year trading ban from the agency.
Prediction market Kalshi has permanently banned former congressman George Santos and fined him $71,356, marking the platform's first-ever lifetime ban. Santos had allegedly profited over $17,500 by betting he'd skip the State of the Union due to travel issues, then selling those contracts after claiming publicly he would attend. Kalshi says it flagged the scheme to regulators and imposed the harsher penalty because Santos failed to cooperate fully with its internal investigation.