The CFTC is conducting an “ongoing and extensive” investigation into Polymarket, picking up where a dropped 2025 probe left off.
The inquiry follows a Wall Street Journal investigation alleging that Polymarket built duplicate websites, then paid content creators to simulate winning trades on those copies without disclosing the arrangement. Senators John Curtis and Adam Schiff followed by pressing CFTC Chairman Michael Selig for a status report by July 10.
Polymarket’s public statement said the company “intended to conduct an audit of active promotional content” and was “committed to maintaining accurate, fair, and transparent markets.” That reads as “we are assessing the root cause”: the standard holding-pattern answer that acknowledges a problem while committing to nothing specific.
Separately, a June 27 report said attackers stole $3.1 million in PUSD tokens from 11 user wallets after a compromised third-party vendor injected a malicious script into Polymarket’s frontend. Funds moved from Polygon to Ethereum immediately. Polymarket has pledged full refunds to all affected PUSD holders.
The probe matters beyond Polymarket itself. Selig built his early CFTC tenure championing prediction markets as legitimate financial products. It’s his first high-profile investigation into one. If the marketing-fraud theory survives the investigation, it sets a disclosure standard for every event-contract platform that uses social media to recruit U.S. users, offshore status included.
July 10 is the Curtis-Schiff deadline for Selig’s response.
Rebecca Lauren