Startup's $15K Bet Backfires: P2P.me Apologises for Polymarket Misstep

P2P.me apologised for the trust-damaging stunt, pledged to liquidate its prediction market positions, and announced a new trading policy after critics labeled the move a marketing failure.

P2P.me has apologised after disclosing that team-linked accounts placed Polymarket bets on the outcome of its own fundraising round before the raise was made public, prompting insider trading accusations from the crypto community.

The India-based stablecoin startup said a foundation account labelled "P2P Team" wagered on the company reaching a US$6 million (AU$8.7 million) fundraising milestone through MetaDAO, a Solana-based decentralised fundraising protocol.

The bets were opened about 10 days before the public raise began on March 25, 2026.

At the time, P2P.me said it had only an oral, non-binding commitment of US$3 million (AU$4.35 million) from Multicoin Capital, its largest single backer. It said there were no signed term sheets or guaranteed allocations in place when the positions were taken.

The foundation account put US$20,500 (AU$29,725) into the Polymarket contract and later withdrew US$35,212 (AU$51,057), for a net profit of about US$14,700 (AU$21,315).

The company described the gain as modest because it was below US$15,000 (AU$21,750). It had also previously used Polymarket in January 2026, when another bet returned US$8,173 (AU$11,851).

Investors Panicking

P2P.me's fundraising round eventually closed at US$5.2 million (AU$7.54 million), below the US$6 million (AU$8.7 million) target tied to the market. Even so, the position settled in the company's favour based on commitments recorded through MetaDAO.

The startup had previously raised US$2 million (AU$2.9 million) in a seed round led by Coinbase Ventures and Multicoin Capital.

After the bets became public through on-chain analysis, investor refund requests reached about US$20,000 (AU$29,000), a small share of the US$6.7 million (AU$9.7 million) committed in the round. Coinbase Ventures and Multicoin Capital said they were unaware of the trading before it surfaced.

P2P.me said the episode "created confusion and hurt trust" and said it would close all open Polymarket positions and introduce a formal policy governing prediction market trading by employees and foundation accounts.

The episode came days after Polymarket moved to explicitly ban insider trading by people with enough authority or influence to affect a contract's outcome.