Ploymarket is set to face a ban from the French authorities, given the high amount of money that people had used as bets during the 2024 US elections.
According to reports, Polymarket saw $3.5 billion in trading volume during the U.S. presidential election, however, is now at the verge of getting blocked by France’s National Gaming Authority (ANJ).
The main bone-of-contention between the French authorities and the speculation app is not the money but the regularities that make gambling an illegal practice in the nation.
The platform had recorded $294 million in volume on November 5 alone.
According to a source close to local media, “Polymarket is still engaging in betting, which is illegal in France, even if it uses cryptocurrency in its operations.”
Local media reports also highlight that “Polymarket is just betting money on something random, which is the exact definition of gambling; it’s like a sports bet.”
It adds, “And unlike financial companies, the ANJ has the power to block the platform even though Polymarket does not specifically target French users,” he says.
Polymarket’s Trouble In France Not New
Polymarket’s trouble in France comes after it had faced multiple incidents of scrutiny by market participants, alleging that the speculation platform was involved in “manipulating the US elections”.
The decentralized prediction market platform had claimed that there is no proof of market manipulation in connection with substantial wagering on the US presidential election.
The disclosure that a French national, known as the whale behind four accounts, had wagered more than $45 million on Donald Trump to win the election was followed by this statement. Prediction markets are intended to represent public sentiment in real time, but the current state of affairs had raised concerns regarding market accuracy and liquidity.
People Win Big Money After US Elections
The French ban on Polymarket comes just a day after many whales had minted huge sums of money after betting small sums on the chances of Donald Trump’s victory.
As UnoCrypto reported earlier, a whale named “Theo4”, had secured an impressive gain of $20.4 million yesterday on Polymarket, becoming the top gainer of the betting saga.
This was also followed by others who made small bets but ended by taking millions and millions home, given the course of the US elections. Additionally, with ten prominent traders wagering a total of about 70.81 million USDC, the prediction markets saw activity flow that it hadn’t seen ever.