Federal regulators launched a broad investigation into Polymarket on June 26, 2026, targeting a $1.9 million campaign of staged trades and fake websites, just as the sector's two biggest players are chasing combined valuations north of $55 billion.
Six weeks after Polymarket opened its U.S. exchange and hit $1 billion in annualized revenue, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission came calling. The probe, confirmed by CNBC citing a person familiar with the matter, targets what the Wall Street Journal first reported: a social media marketing campaign in which paid creators filmed fake bets on dummy websites built to look like Polymarket, with most of them failing to disclose they were compensated. Polymarket staged $1.9 million in trades that never happened. The videos racked up millions of views on platforms where Polymarket's actual exchange, which bars U.S. users from its decentralized platform, couldn't legally operate.
The conduct is either brazen or foolish, depending on your perspective. Probably both. You don't build a regulated U.S. exchange, announce $1 billion in revenue, and then have your influencer campaign surface on the front page of the Wall Street Journal in the same week. But here we are.
Senators Adam Schiff (D-CA) and John Curtis (R-UT) sent CFTC Chairman Michael Selig a letter calling the allegations
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