📢 Flash
U.S. regulators are once again investigating whether Polymarket violated the 2022 settlement agreement.
According to a Reuters report on October 28, two people familiar with the matter said the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has reopened its investigation into whether Polymarket violated its 2022 settlement agreement—centered on whether the company has implemented and enforced sufficient technical and operational measures to effectively block U.S. users from accessing its overseas main platform. This review forms part of a broader CFTC probe launched earlier this year, which examines Polymarket’s geolocation identification controls, its advertising activities within the United States, and the customer onboarding process and investor protection arrangements on its U.S. platform. One source noted that the review explicitly covers the company’s previously adopted compliance measures and internal operational procedures.
The 2022 settlement stemmed from Polymarket’s commitment to cease offering services to U.S. customers. In 2024, both the CFTC and the U.S. Department of Justice launched separate investigations; the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) searched CEO Shayne Coplan’s New York residence in November of that year. Coplan publicly stated in July 2025 that both investigations had concluded. Subsequently, Polymarket completed its acquisition of a CFTC-registered derivatives exchange and began rolling out its U.S. platform in phases starting at the end of 2025.
Polymarket previously stated it had upgraded its geo-restriction systems, explicitly prohibiting users from circumventing access restrictions via VPNs or similar tools, and deployed real-time monitoring of anomalous behavior alongside proactive blocking mechanisms to prevent restricted users from accessing its overseas platform. In April this year, U.S. prosecutors charged an active-duty service member with using material nonpublic information to trade on Polymarket’s overseas platform and profit $400,000; the indictment specifically cited the defendant’s use of a VPN to bypass geo-blocking. The defendant denies all charges, and Polymarket responded at the time that it had referred the case to relevant law enforcement authorities.
The 2022 settlement stemmed from Polymarket’s commitment to cease offering services to U.S. customers. In 2024, both the CFTC and the U.S. Department of Justice launched separate investigations; the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) searched CEO Shayne Coplan’s New York residence in November of that year. Coplan publicly stated in July 2025 that both investigations had concluded. Subsequently, Polymarket completed its acquisition of a CFTC-registered derivatives exchange and began rolling out its U.S. platform in phases starting at the end of 2025.
Polymarket previously stated it had upgraded its geo-restriction systems, explicitly prohibiting users from circumventing access restrictions via VPNs or similar tools, and deployed real-time monitoring of anomalous behavior alongside proactive blocking mechanisms to prevent restricted users from accessing its overseas platform. In April this year, U.S. prosecutors charged an active-duty service member with using material nonpublic information to trade on Polymarket’s overseas platform and profit $400,000; the indictment specifically cited the defendant’s use of a VPN to bypass geo-blocking. The defendant denies all charges, and Polymarket responded at the time that it had referred the case to relevant law enforcement authorities.
