News & Updates

The latest news and updates from companies in the WLTH portfolio.

Donald Trump Jr.'s Firm Leads $1 Billion Funding Round for Polymarket

The new round values the prediction market at $21 billion, up from $15 billion. Mr. Trump's firm, 1789 Capital, will invest around $300 million. Donald Trump Jr.'s venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, is leading a new funding round in Polymarket that values the prediction market at $21 billion, a spokeswoman for 1789 Capital said on Monday. Polymarket plans to raise $1 billion, including around $300 million from 1789 Capital, the spokeswoman, Alexa Henning, said. The investment firm previously invested about $200 million in the prediction market, which is currently valued at about $15 billion. Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi have exploded in popularity over the past year. The platforms allow users to place wagers on the outcome of a wide variety of events, from what the president will say in a speech to who will get married on "Love Is Blind." The Trump family has built up a financial stake in the industry since last year. Donald Trump Jr. joined Kalshi as an adviser last year and received shares in the company worth more than $300,000. He also began advising Polymarket and invested in it via 1789 Capital. At the same time, his father, President Trump, has taken steps to boost the industry. Michael S. Selig, whom the president appointed to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which oversees prediction markets, has spoken enthusiastically about the companies and sued states that tried to regulate them. The president declared on Truth Social that prediction markets would "thrive" under his leadership and said Mr. Selig was "respected by all." Bloomberg earlier reported that 1789 Capital was leading Polymarket's funding round. Many of the companies that 1789 Capital has invested in have large government contracts, while others, like Polymarket, have benefited directly from new Trump policies or rollbacks of existing laws, The New York Times has reported. The investment firm also bought shares in some of the most coveted private companies before many went public, including SpaceX, Anduril, Cerebras and Reflection AI. Two years ago, 1789 Capital managed a few hundred million dollars. It now oversees more than $3 billion. Donald Trump Jr. told The Times this year that he invested as a private citizen and held "no policy position and no role within the administration whatsoever."

CerebrasPolymarket
The New York Times10d ago
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Donald Trump Jr.'s Firm Leads $1 Billion Funding Round for Polymarket

Brazilian Counter-Strike pros reportedly paid up to $500 a post to push Polymarket on X

The controversy comes at a moment when online gambling and prediction-style platforms are expanding quickly. According to Proto, professional Counter-Strike players in Brazil are being paid as little as $20 per post to promote Polymarket, and it's drawing fresh criticism over how gambling marketing is showing up inside gaming culture. The backlash has been especially sharp because some of the content reportedly relies on artificial intelligence-generated posts and sensationalized betting talk to grab attention. Here's what to know According to Protos, citing Dust2, Polymarket lists 509 Counter-Strike bets, with some reportedly seeing $1 million to $2 million in volume. Pro players are being paid $20 to $500 per X post to react to news, mention the market, and share wagers. Polymarket is reportedly showing up in everyday conversation around players, match results, and scene drama, not just as a sponsor. One flashpoint involved professional Counter-Strike player Robin Kool. An official Polymarket Counter-Strike account falsely claimed he was in Paris with a Porsche, leading Kool to post on X on Aug. 16, 2026: "so we just lying and creating shit out of thin air, that's how low we're going." He also called sponsored AI-style posts "a f*cking joke." Other users were similarly critical, with one who described the reported $20 rate per tweet as a way for professional players "to completely debase yourself... for a morally bankrupt gambling company." More background The controversy comes at a moment when online gambling and prediction-style platforms are expanding quickly, often through polished social-media marketing that can make betting seem casual, social, and harmless. But that broader boom has also raised concerns about predatory design, aggressive advertising, financial risk, and the ease of placing real-time bets -- especially for younger audiences who may encounter this content in gaming communities. Protos said Polymarket lists 39 countries where it is restricted, reflecting the legal and regulatory complexity surrounding its business. A platform's accessibility, rules, and protections can vary widely depending on where someone lives. The company has also faced scrutiny over how its promotions are presented. The Wall Street Journal reported that Polymarket-linked sponsored posts were largely fake, with a mock version of the site used to display invented bets and up to $900,000 in winnings. If those bets had really been placed, they would have translated to roughly $160,000 in losses. Protos also said that the same reporting found "clippers" -- people who edit and repost influencer footage -- were paid only if 60% of their audience was based in the United States, even though Polymarket is not allowed to operate there. What's being done? Reporting from outlets covering crypto, finance, and esports has brought more visibility to how these promotions work, while players and fans are calling out misleading or low-quality sponsored content in real time. Kool's response is one example of that pushback. Kool said on X: "and all the people sponsored doing AI slop tweets, what a fucking joke" and "genuinely blocking you if i see any of this AI slop on my timeline, this is literal digital cancer." Get TCD's free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.

Polymarket
The Cool Down10d ago
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Brazilian Counter-Strike pros reportedly paid up to $500 a post to push Polymarket on X

CFND) Announces Second Quarter 2026 Results, Adds Polymarket to Portfolio, and Repurchases ~$824,000 of Shares

C1 Fund Inc. (NYSE: CFND) ("C1 Fund" or the "Fund"), a publicly traded closed-end fund providing investors with exposure to a curated portfolio of private late stage digital asset services and technology companies, today released its financial results, including net asset value ("NAV"), for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026. * C1 Fund had 6,568,348 shares outstanding. * C1 Fund's NAV was $42,625,013, or $6.49 per share. * Portfolio investments at fair value were $33,067,058, representing approximately 77.5% of net assets. * Short-term U.S. Treasury investments were $9.96 million, representing 23.3% of net assets. * Total investments at fair value were $43,031,199, reflecting net unrealized depreciation on investments of $53,311,989. * The Fund held investments in eleven portfolio companies, compared with seven at December 31, 2025. Operational Highlights and Strategic Progress * Through July 31, 2026, C1 Fund repurchased and retired 249,300 shares of its common stock at an aggregate cost of $824,440 under its buyback program approved by the Board of Directors on January 29, 2026. The Fund is currently authorized to repurchase up to $3,000,000 of its common stock, subject to market conditions and SEC rules. * As of June 30, 2026, the portfolio included eleven companies: Alchemy, BitGo, Blockchain.com, Chainalysis, ConsenSys, Figment, Fireblocks, Kraken (Payward, Inc.), Polymarket (Blockratize Inc.), Ripple Labs Inc., and Uphold. In keeping with its mandate, C1 Fund's portfolio investments remain focused on digital asset services and technology. * During the second quarter of 2026, C1 Fund added Polymarket (Blockratize Inc.), a leading decentralized prediction market platform that enables users to trade on the outcomes of real-world events, and increased positions in several of the companies in which the Fund first invested in 2025. * C1 Fund's two largest portfolio exposures are Ripple Labs Inc. (17.5% of the Company's net assets as of June 30, 2026), a global blockchain infrastructure company focused on cross-border payments and digital asset solutions, and Payward, Inc. (16.9% of the Company's net assets as of June 30, 2026), the parent company and unified financial infrastructure platform behind Kraken, one of the world's largest digital asset exchanges serving retail, institutional, and enterprise clients. * Two portfolio companies, Kraken and Blockchain.com, have publicly announced confidential submissions for potential initial public offerings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. BitGo, Inc. completed its initial public offering in January 2026. An early partial issuer buyback by Ripple Labs Inc. generated approximately a 150% return to the Fund in just over four months. * Investments continue to be selected from the C1 30, C1 Fund's defined universe of leading companies in digital asset services and technology, based on availability in secondary markets and expected return potential. Chief Investment Officer Elliot Han commented, "Our investment discipline remains consistent: acquire secondary shares in larger, late stage companies from the C1 30 when access is available and pricing offers compelling return potential. As of June 30, our eleven company portfolio represented approximately 77.5% of net assets and spanned payments, custody, compliance, staking, exchanges, development infrastructure, and prediction markets. Weaker secondary market pricing affected quarter end fair values, but selected portfolio companies continued to report customer growth. BitGo's clients on platform increased 26% year over year to 5,833, and Payward's (Kraken's) funded accounts increased 42% to 6.6 million. We believe this divergence reinforces the importance of evaluating both market based fair values and underlying business performance as we manage the portfolio and pursue liquidity opportunities."

PolymarketKraken
wallstreet:online11d ago
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CFND) Announces Second Quarter 2026 Results, Adds Polymarket to Portfolio, and Repurchases ~$824,000 of Shares

Polymarket says surveillance systems ready for U.S. midterm trading

Polymarket has strengthened its trade surveillance and investigation systems ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, as the prediction market operator faces scrutiny over insider trading and American access to its international platform. Reuters reported on Aug. 31 that Polymarket's new global head of investigations and intelligence, Shana Bautista, said the company has systems capable of identifying unusual trading activity as election-related markets attract closer attention. "I'm confident that I'm able to get the resources and the support I need," Bautista told Reuters in her first interview since joining Polymarket in June. "I can tell you that we have the systems in place to be able to identify anomalous activity when the midterms do come." Polymarket prepares surveillance systems for U.S. midterms Bautista, a former FBI investigator and Coinbase analyst, is overseeing Polymarket's investigative work as U.S. lawmakers examine whether prediction markets could provide a venue for trading based on sensitive government or political information. Congress has already moved toward restricting lawmakers from participating in such markets. Crypto.news previously reported that Rep. Bryan Steil was seeking to include a prediction market trading ban in a proposal that would restrict stock trading by members of Congress and their families. Steil said lawmakers should not be trading contracts tied to elections or public policy. His proposal followed a unanimous Senate vote in April barring senators and their staff from trading on prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi. Questions over insider access have extended beyond lawmakers. A study published earlier this year examined how restrictions could affect the information produced by prediction market prices, arguing that enforcement should distinguish between traders who possess private information and participants who can influence the outcome of an event. The research found that a blanket ban could reduce the information available in market prices, while recommending stronger penalties for participants capable of changing an outcome themselves. The findings came as Polymarket and Kalshi faced increased insider trading scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers. Polymarket says its surveillance program uses several sources of information to detect potentially malicious activity. Bautista said the company combines machine learning, blockchain analytics, trade surveillance, open-source research and third-party services. A new webpage will provide more public information about those controls and explain how the company works with law enforcement, according to a Polymarket spokesperson cited by Reuters. "The market integrity program itself is not new, but what we're putting on the record now is considerably more detail about how it operates," Bautista said. Blockchain activity gives Polymarket investigators a trading trail Trades on Polymarket's international platform settle on a blockchain, leaving transaction records publicly visible even when the people controlling individual wallets remain anonymous. Critics have argued that pseudonymous wallet-based trading can create opportunities for misconduct. Bautista told Reuters that blockchain records can provide investigators with useful information about trading behavior and movements of funds between addresses. Polymarket says it has referred more than 100 cases to law enforcement. One involved a wallet linked to a U.S. soldier who prosecutors say used classified information to trade contracts concerning the capture of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro. A federal judge in August paused the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's civil case tied to the soldier while a related criminal proceeding continues. Prosecutors allege that about $409,881 was earned through 13 Venezuela-related Polymarket trades, according to the CFTC case proceedings. The defendant has pleaded not guilty and challenged whether the prediction contracts involved in the case legally qualify as swaps. Bautista said other referrals involved possible insider wagers concerning U.S. military actions in Iran. Reuters reported earlier in August that several trades linked to military developments had raised questions over whether some participants possessed information that was not publicly available. Political concern has extended to federal employees with access to sensitive information. More than 40 Democratic lawmakers previously asked the CFTC and the U.S. Office of Government Ethics for guidance restricting federal employees from using nonpublic information to trade prediction contracts. Their letter raised concerns involving political events, military developments and other contracts where government employees could have access to information before the public. Polymarket says controls block most U.S. users Keeping American users away from Polymarket's international platform remains another enforcement issue for the company. The CFTC reached a settlement with Polymarket in 2022 after finding that it had offered event-based binary options contracts without registering with the regulator. Polymarket agreed to pay a $1.4 million civil penalty and wind down markets that did not comply with U.S. law. The settlement required the company to prevent U.S. customers from using its international operation. Bautista told Reuters that she believes Polymarket's current systems are sufficient to stop the vast majority of American users from accessing the international platform. "It is difficult at scale to be able to consistently and always evade all of the guardrails we have," Bautista said. "I do not see it being a really prevalent issue." Blockchain research has raised questions over how effectively those restrictions work. On-chain research firm Allium estimated that U.S.-linked wallets traded about $571 million in political contracts on Polymarket over a one-year period despite the restrictions. The United States represented the largest national group identified in its analysis. Allium cautioned that it could assign country labels to only a small share of political-market wallets and described its estimates as directional because blockchain activity cannot establish the identity or physical location of every trader. The findings renewed attention on U.S. wallet activity on Polymarket's international venue. Federal scrutiny of the company has changed under President Donald Trump's administration. Regulators dropped an investigation into whether Polymarket had breached its 2022 settlement, and CEO Shayne Coplan said at the time that the company had been cleared of wrongdoing. Polymarket has taken a separate route to serve American customers through a regulated exchange. The company returned to the U.S. market after acquiring a CFTC-registered exchange last year, creating an operation separate from the international blockchain platform that remains closed to U.S. users. State lawsuits target prediction market sports contracts While federal regulators oversee event contracts under commodities law, prediction market companies are fighting a separate series of disputes with state authorities over sports-related contracts. Several states have argued that sports event contracts offered by prediction market platforms amount to gambling products that require state licenses. Prediction market companies have disputed that position, maintaining that qualifying event contracts fall under federal commodities regulation and CFTC jurisdiction. The conflict has produced lawsuits seeking to stop prediction market operators from offering sports contracts without state gambling licenses. Polymarket's regulated U.S. operation and its international platform remain separate. The international service uses blockchain-based settlement and wallet trading, while the U.S. exchange operates within the CFTC regulatory framework. Bautista told Reuters that Polymarket intends to provide more public detail about its surveillance program as the midterm elections approach, including how the company uses blockchain analytics, machine learning and trade monitoring to identify suspicious activity and refer cases to law enforcement.

Polymarket
crypto.news11d ago
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Polymarket says surveillance systems ready for U.S. midterm trading

Polymarket has favorites for Time's Person of the Year. They are all Trump foes - AOL

In a few months, TIME will announce its annual Person of the Year. If prediction markets are to be believed, Donald Trump will be disappointed with the results. On both Kalshi and Polymarket, the Republican, who has won Person of the Year twice, ranks a distant third. Making matters worse, the top two picks on both sites -- New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Pope Leo XIV -- have feuded with the president. The president has had an up-and-down relationship with Mamdani, the top pick on both sites. At various points, Trump has attacked his fellow New Yorker as a "communist," though a relatively friendly November meeting between the two sparked speculation they might forge an unlikely "bromance." "I think you're going to have, hopefully, a really great mayor -- the better he does, the happier I am," Trump said at the time. They met again in February, and Mamdani emphasized that he hoped he could work with Trump on issues such as housing, bringing a mock-up newspaper front page touting the fruits of their potential collaboration and Trump's starring role. Hopes for a true alliance between the two were quickly dashed, however. By April, Trump accused Mamdani, who has pushed for a tax on luxury second-homes, of "destroying" New York with his tax policies. In June, the Trump administration's border czar threatened to flood New York with ICE agents in response to the state passing a new package of sanctuary provisions. Mamdani, meanwhile, has repeatedly criticized the Trump administration's immigration policies. The president's relationship with Pope Leo has been ever more fraught. Leo, the first American pope, infuriated the White House on multiple occasions, including for criticizing what he said were the administration's "inhumane" immigration policies and for speaking out about Trump's threats to wipe out the Iranian civilization. The pope also took issue with administration claims that the Iran conflict was a righteous holy war. "Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs," Leo wrote on social media in April. These comments further angered the administration, with Vice President JD Vance, himself a high-profile Catholic convert, warning the pope to "be careful" when opining on matters of theology. President Trump, meanwhile, has accused the Pope of being "weak" on crime and "terrible" on foreign policy. Despite the Trump administration's strong support from Christians in the U.S., its immigration policies have driven a wedge between it and the Catholic Church, which is heavily involved in refugee resettlement work and has numerous members in the U.S. with immigrant backgrounds. In April, for instance, the Trump administration ended an $11 million federal contract with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, a charity that has provided housing and assistance to migrant children for 60 years.

Polymarket
Aol16d ago
Read update
Polymarket has favorites for Time's Person of the Year. They are all Trump foes - AOL

Polymarket has favorites for Time's Person of the Year. They are all Trump foes

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. In a few months, TIME will announce its annual Person of the Year. If prediction markets are to be believed, Donald Trump will be disappointed with the results. On both Kalshi and Polymarket, the Republican, who has won Person of the Year twice, ranks a distant third. Making matters worse, the top two picks on both sites -- New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Pope Leo XIV -- have feuded with the president. The president has had an up-and-down relationship with Mamdani, the top pick on both sites. At various points, Trump has attacked his fellow New Yorker as a "communist," though a relatively friendly November meeting between the two sparked speculation they might forge an unlikely "bromance." "I think you're going to have, hopefully, a really great mayor -- the better he does, the happier I am," Trump said at the time. They met again in February, and Mamdani emphasized that he hoped he could work with Trump on issues such as housing, bringing a mock-up newspaper front page touting the fruits of their potential collaboration and Trump's starring role. Hopes for a true alliance between the two were quickly dashed, however. By April, Trump accused Mamdani, who has pushed for a tax on luxury second-homes, of "destroying" New York with his tax policies. In June, the Trump administration's border czar threatened to flood New York with ICE agents in response to the state passing a new package of sanctuary provisions. Mamdani, meanwhile, has repeatedly criticized the Trump administration's immigration policies. The president's relationship with Pope Leo has been ever more fraught. Leo, the first American pope, infuriated the White House on multiple occasions, including for criticizing what he said were the administration's "inhumane" immigration policies and for speaking out about Trump's threats to wipe out the Iranian civilization. The pope also took issue with administration claims that the Iran conflict was a righteous holy war. "Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs," Leo wrote on social media in April. These comments further angered the administration, with Vice President JD Vance, himself a high-profile Catholic convert, warning the pope to "be careful" when opining on matters of theology. President Trump, meanwhile, has accused the Pope of being "weak" on crime and "terrible" on foreign policy. Despite the Trump administration's strong support from Christians in the U.S., its immigration policies have driven a wedge between it and the Catholic Church, which is heavily involved in refugee resettlement work and has numerous members in the U.S. with immigrant backgrounds. In April, for instance, the Trump administration ended an $11 million federal contract with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, a charity that has provided housing and assistance to migrant children for 60 years.

Polymarket
Yahoo News16d ago
Read update
Polymarket has favorites for Time's Person of the Year. They are all Trump foes

Polymarket has favorites for Time's Person of the Year. It's not good news for Trump

In a few months, TIME will announce its annual Person of the Year. If prediction markets are to be believed, Donald Trump will be disappointed with the results. On both Kalshi and Polymarket, the Republican, who has won Person of the Year twice, ranks a distant third. Making matters worse, the top two picks on both sites -- New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Pope Leo XIV -- have feuded with the president. The president has had an up-and-down relationship with Mamdani, the top pick on both sites. At various points, Trump has attacked his fellow New Yorker as a "communist," though a relatively friendly November meeting between the two sparked speculation they might forge an unlikely "bromance." "I think you're going to have, hopefully, a really great mayor -- the better he does, the happier I am," Trump said at the time. They met again in February, and Mamdani emphasized that he hoped he could work with Trump on issues such as housing, bringing a mock-up newspaper front page touting the fruits of their potential collaboration and Trump's starring role. Hopes for a true alliance between the two were quickly dashed, however. By April, Trump accused Mamdani, who has pushed for a tax on luxury second-homes, of "destroying" New York with his tax policies. In June, the Trump administration's border czar threatened to flood New York with ICE agents in response to the state passing a new package of sanctuary provisions. Mamdani, meanwhile, has repeatedly criticized the Trump administration's immigration policies. The president's relationship with Pope Leo has been ever more fraught. Leo, the first American pope, infuriated the White House on multiple occasions, including for criticizing what he said were the administration's "inhumane" immigration policies and for speaking out about Trump's threats to wipe out the Iranian civilization. The pope also took issue with administration claims that the Iran conflict was a righteous holy war. "Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs," Leo wrote on social media in April. These comments further angered the administration, with Vice President JD Vance, himself a high-profile Catholic convert, warning the pope to "be careful" when opining on matters of theology. President Trump, meanwhile, has accused the Pope of being "weak" on crime and "terrible" on foreign policy. Despite the Trump administration's strong support from Christians in the U.S., its immigration policies have driven a wedge between it and the Catholic Church, which is heavily involved in refugee resettlement work and has numerous members in the U.S. with immigrant backgrounds. In April, for instance, the Trump administration ended an $11 million federal contract with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, a charity that has provided housing and assistance to migrant children for 60 years.

Polymarket
The Independent16d ago
Read update
Polymarket has favorites for Time's Person of the Year. It's not good news for Trump

Polymarket has favorites for Time's Person of the Year. They are all Trump foes

In a few months, TIME will announce its annual Person of the Year. If prediction markets are to be believed, Donald Trump will be disappointed with the results. On both Kalshi and Polymarket, the Republican, who has won Person of the Year twice, ranks a distant third. Making matters worse, the top two picks on both sites -- New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Pope Leo XIV -- have feuded with the president. The president has had an up-and-down relationship with Mamdani, the top pick on both sites. At various points, Trump has attacked his fellow New Yorker as a "communist," though a relatively friendly November meeting between the two sparked speculation they might forge an unlikely "bromance." "I think you're going to have, hopefully, a really great mayor -- the better he does, the happier I am," Trump said at the time. They met again in February, and Mamdani emphasized that he hoped he could work with Trump on issues such as housing, bringing a mock-up newspaper front page touting the fruits of their potential collaboration and Trump's starring role. Hopes for a true alliance between the two were quickly dashed, however. By April, Trump accused Mamdani, who has pushed for a tax on luxury second-homes, of "destroying" New York with his tax policies. In June, the Trump administration's border czar threatened to flood New York with ICE agents in response to the state passing a new package of sanctuary provisions. Mamdani, meanwhile, has repeatedly criticized the Trump administration's immigration policies. The president's relationship with Pope Leo has been ever more fraught. Leo, the first American pope, infuriated the White House on multiple occasions, including for criticizing what he said were the administration's "inhumane" immigration policies and for speaking out about Trump's threats to wipe out the Iranian civilization. The pope also took issue with administration claims that the Iran conflict was a righteous holy war. "Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs," Leo wrote on social media in April. These comments further angered the administration, with Vice President JD Vance, himself a high-profile Catholic convert, warning the pope to "be careful" when opining on matters of theology. President Trump, meanwhile, has accused the Pope of being "weak" on crime and "terrible" on foreign policy. Despite the Trump administration's strong support from Christians in the U.S., its immigration policies have driven a wedge between it and the Catholic Church, which is heavily involved in refugee resettlement work and has numerous members in the U.S. with immigrant backgrounds. In April, for instance, the Trump administration ended an $11 million federal contract with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, a charity that has provided housing and assistance to migrant children for 60 years.

Polymarket
Yahoo16d ago
Read update
Polymarket has favorites for Time's Person of the Year. They are all Trump foes

Polymarket has favorites for Time's Person of the Year. It's not good news for Trump

In a few months, TIME will announce its annual Person of the Year. If prediction markets are to be believed, Donald Trump will be disappointed with the results. On both Kalshi and Polymarket, the Republican, who has won Person of the Year twice, ranks a distant third. Making matters worse, the top two picks on both sites -- New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Pope Leo XIV -- have feuded with the president. The president has had an up-and-down relationship with Mamdani, the top pick on both sites. At various points, Trump has attacked his fellow New Yorker as a "communist," though a relatively friendly November meeting between the two sparked speculation they might forge an unlikely "bromance." "I think you're going to have, hopefully, a really great mayor -- the better he does, the happier I am," Trump said at the time. They met again in February, and Mamdani emphasized that he hoped he could work with Trump on issues such as housing, bringing a mock-up newspaper front page touting the fruits of their potential collaboration and Trump's starring role. Hopes for a true alliance between the two were quickly dashed, however. By April, Trump accused Mamdani, who has pushed for a tax on luxury second-homes, of "destroying" New York with his tax policies. In June, the Trump administration's border czar threatened to flood New York with ICE agents in response to the state passing a new package of sanctuary provisions. Mamdani, meanwhile, has repeatedly criticized the Trump administration's immigration policies. The president's relationship with Pope Leo has been ever more fraught. Leo, the first American pope, infuriated the White House on multiple occasions, including for criticizing what he said were the administration's "inhumane" immigration policies and for speaking out about Trump's threats to wipe out the Iranian civilization. The pope also took issue with administration claims that the Iran conflict was a righteous holy war. "Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs," Leo wrote on social media in April. These comments further angered the administration, with Vice President JD Vance, himself a high-profile Catholic convert, warning the pope to "be careful" when opining on matters of theology. President Trump, meanwhile, has accused the Pope of being "weak" on crime and "terrible" on foreign policy. Despite the Trump administration's strong support from Christians in the U.S., its immigration policies have driven a wedge between it and the Catholic Church, which is heavily involved in refugee resettlement work and has numerous members in the U.S. with immigrant backgrounds. In April, for instance, the Trump administration ended an $11 million federal contract with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, a charity that has provided housing and assistance to migrant children for 60 years.

Polymarket
The Independent16d ago
Read update
Polymarket has favorites for Time's Person of the Year. It's not good news for Trump

Polymarket has favorites for Time's Person of the Year. They are all Trump foes

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. In a few months, TIME will announce its annual Person of the Year. If prediction markets are to be believed, Donald Trump will be disappointed with the results. On both Kalshi and Polymarket, the Republican, who has won Person of the Year twice, ranks a distant third. Making matters worse, the top two picks on both sites -- New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Pope Leo XIV -- have feuded with the president. The president has had an up-and-down relationship with Mamdani, the top pick on both sites. At various points, Trump has attacked his fellow New Yorker as a "communist," though a relatively friendly November meeting between the two sparked speculation they might forge an unlikely "bromance." "I think you're going to have, hopefully, a really great mayor -- the better he does, the happier I am," Trump said at the time. They met again in February, and Mamdani emphasized that he hoped he could work with Trump on issues such as housing, bringing a mock-up newspaper front page touting the fruits of their potential collaboration and Trump's starring role. Hopes for a true alliance between the two were quickly dashed, however. By April, Trump accused Mamdani, who has pushed for a tax on luxury second-homes, of "destroying" New York with his tax policies. In June, the Trump administration's border czar threatened to flood New York with ICE agents in response to the state passing a new package of sanctuary provisions. Mamdani, meanwhile, has repeatedly criticized the Trump administration's immigration policies. The president's relationship with Pope Leo has been ever more fraught. Leo, the first American pope, infuriated the White House on multiple occasions, including for criticizing what he said were the administration's "inhumane" immigration policies and for speaking out about Trump's threats to wipe out the Iranian civilization. The pope also took issue with administration claims that the Iran conflict was a righteous holy war. "Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs," Leo wrote on social media in April. These comments further angered the administration, with Vice President JD Vance, himself a high-profile Catholic convert, warning the pope to "be careful" when opining on matters of theology. President Trump, meanwhile, has accused the Pope of being "weak" on crime and "terrible" on foreign policy. Despite the Trump administration's strong support from Christians in the U.S., its immigration policies have driven a wedge between it and the Catholic Church, which is heavily involved in refugee resettlement work and has numerous members in the U.S. with immigrant backgrounds. In April, for instance, the Trump administration ended an $11 million federal contract with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, a charity that has provided housing and assistance to migrant children for 60 years.

Polymarket
Yahoo News UK16d ago
Read update
Polymarket has favorites for Time's Person of the Year. They are all Trump foes

Polymarket has favorites for Time's Person of the Year. They are all Trump foes

In a few months, TIME will announce its annual Person of the Year. If prediction markets are to be believed, Donald Trump will be disappointed with the results. On both Kalshi and Polymarket, the Republican, who has won Person of the Year twice, ranks a distant third. Making matters worse, the top two picks on both sites -- New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Pope Leo XIV -- have feuded with the president. The president has had an up-and-down relationship with Mamdani, the top pick on both sites. At various points, Trump has attacked his fellow New Yorker as a "communist," though a relatively friendly November meeting between the two sparked speculation they might forge an unlikely "bromance." "I think you're going to have, hopefully, a really great mayor -- the better he does, the happier I am," Trump said at the time. They met again in February, and Mamdani emphasized that he hoped he could work with Trump on issues such as housing, bringing a mock-up newspaper front page touting the fruits of their potential collaboration and Trump's starring role. Hopes for a true alliance between the two were quickly dashed, however. By April, Trump accused Mamdani, who has pushed for a tax on luxury second-homes, of "destroying" New York with his tax policies. In June, the Trump administration's border czar threatened to flood New York with ICE agents in response to the state passing a new package of sanctuary provisions. Mamdani, meanwhile, has repeatedly criticized the Trump administration's immigration policies. The president's relationship with Pope Leo has been ever more fraught. Leo, the first American pope, infuriated the White House on multiple occasions, including for criticizing what he said were the administration's "inhumane" immigration policies and for speaking out about Trump's threats to wipe out the Iranian civilization. The pope also took issue with administration claims that the Iran conflict was a righteous holy war. "Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs," Leo wrote on social media in April. These comments further angered the administration, with Vice President JD Vance, himself a high-profile Catholic convert, warning the pope to "be careful" when opining on matters of theology. President Trump, meanwhile, has accused the Pope of being "weak" on crime and "terrible" on foreign policy. Despite the Trump administration's strong support from Christians in the U.S., its immigration policies have driven a wedge between it and the Catholic Church, which is heavily involved in refugee resettlement work and has numerous members in the U.S. with immigrant backgrounds. In April, for instance, the Trump administration ended an $11 million federal contract with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, a charity that has provided housing and assistance to migrant children for 60 years.

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Polymarket has favorites for Time's Person of the Year. They are all Trump foes

Polymarket Trump Impeachment Odds Explained

Disclaimer: Crypto is a high-risk asset class. This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. You could lose all of your capital. Prediction Market Polymarket traders price a House impeachment of Donald Trump before his term ends at roughly 68%, against a fraction of that, around 2%, for the same outcome landing before December 31, 2026. That 33x spread between two contracts asking a nearly identical question is the real story: it's not a prediction that impeachment is coming, it's a market pricing the calendar and congressional arithmetic separately from the politics. The Contract Split: Two Clocks, One President Polymarket's "Will Trump be impeached before his term ends?" market resolves "Yes" if the House passes at least one article of impeachment by simple majority any time before January 20, 2029. As of its last update on August 24, 2026, that contract was trading around 68%, on roughly $94,463 in cumulative volume since the market opened on March 19, 2026. A separate, shorter-dated contract asks the same question but caps the window at December 31, 2026, before the newly elected House even takes its committee assignments. That contract has traded at a premium of closer to 2%, according to Polymarket pricing referenced in Washington Examiner coverage of the market. Same event, same officeholder, wildly different implied probability, because the two contracts are betting on different Congresses. Why the Math Changes After the Midterms Republicans currently hold narrow majorities in both chambers, and a GOP-controlled House has no institutional incentive to advance articles of impeachment against a Republican president absent a major break within the party. That's the entire explanation for the 2% price: it's a bet that this specific Congress will act before its term expires, and the base rate for that is close to zero. The 68% figure prices in something structurally different, the 2026 midterms. If Democrats retake the House, they gain subpoena power, Judiciary Committee control, and the ability to schedule a floor vote on their own terms, none of which exists under the current majority. Forecasters tracking generic ballot trends have generally shown Democrats favored or competitive to flip the chamber, and Polymarket's long-dated contract is effectively a compounded bet: probability of a Democratic House multiplied by the probability that a Democratic majority actually brings articles to a vote sometime in the roughly two years of runway that follow. Prediction markets have increasingly become the fastest-moving gauge for exactly this kind of time-bound political risk. The same dynamic played out in Kalshi's government shutdown odds market, where prices fluctuated in lockstep with the legislative calendar rather than with sentiment alone. The mechanism is identical here: traders aren't voting on whether Trump deserves impeachment, they're pricing the sequence of procedural gates that would have to open first. Impeachment Is Not Removal, And Markets Know It Both Polymarket contracts resolve on House passage alone. Neither requires a Senate trial, conviction, or removal from office to settle "Yes." That distinction matters enormously for how these odds should be read, and it's grounded directly in constitutional mechanics rather than market convention. Per the Congressional Research Service's report on House impeachment procedure, the House impeaches by a simple majority vote adopting articles, effectively a formal accusation, comparable to a criminal indictment. Removal is an entirely separate Senate proceeding requiring a two-thirds vote of senators present to convict, and disqualification from future office requires only a majority vote as a distinct, additional step. The CRS report notes the House has impeached three presidents, Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998, and Trump himself in both 2019 and 2021, and in every case, the Senate declined to convict. A 68% price on House impeachment therefore says nothing about the far higher bar of Senate removal, which is a structurally separate market question entirely. When the Calendar Changes the Odds, Prediction Market Kalshi Lets Traders Price the Trump And Political Path Directly The Trump impeachment markets show why political probabilities can swing dramatically without anyone changing their underlying view of the politician involved. What changes is the path: elections, congressional control, committee power, deadlines, and the number of procedural steps still left. Kalshi gives traders a way to take positions directly on those kinds of political outcomes. Rather than trying to translate a House flip, impeachment vote, or government funding fight into a stock, Bitcoin, or bond trade, users can focus on the event itself and the exact conditions required for the contract to settle. That distinction matters when two similar-looking questions can carry wildly different probabilities simply because one has months to resolve and the other has years. For traders already thinking in terms of congressional arithmetic and timing, Kalshi turns that thesis into a market of its own. Eligible new users who join Kalshi through CryptoNews can also receive $25 through our referral link.

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cryptonews.com17d ago
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Polymarket Trump Impeachment Odds Explained

Kalshi and Polymarket bets on clinical trials criticized as 'ghastly'

As a soon-to-be seventh grader, Joshua Pederson's son is not exactly brimming with enthusiasm when he talks about the upcoming school year. "The thing I'm looking forward to most in seventh grade is lunch, and the thing I'm looking forward to least is everything else," said the 12-year-old. Art is his passion, but he doesn't take classes. He likes teaching himself. "I like drawing scary stuff and robots," he said. "Because I think scary stuff and robots are cool." Two years ago, his parents, who live in Boston, noticed a lump around his ribs that quickly spiraled into a nightmare scenario: It was cancer. Pederson asked that his son's name be withheld to discuss details of his medical condition. After months of grueling chemotherapy and radiation, he was declared cancer-free last summer. Months later, however, the cancer returned. So Pederson entered his son into a clinical trial for a novel treatment. That's around the time Pederson read the news that prediction market sites Kalshi and Polymarket have begun allowing people to bet on the outcomes of clinical trials and whether the Food and Drug Administration will approve new medications. "What seemed to be missed in the CEO statements was the fact that there were going to be patients on the other side of these bets," said Pederson, who is a humanities professor at Boston University. Bettors will make or lose money based on the success or failure of a clinical trial, a situation Pederson views as horrific. "A clinical trial failing is a more sanitized euphemism for, people are going to suffer, people are going to die, people are going to have one fewer clinical option available to them in one of the most difficult medical situations of their entire life," he said. Researchers fear 'undermining trial integrity' Billions of dollars are traded every week on the lightly regulated prediction market sites, where users bet on everything from movie reviews to elections to conflicts in the Middle East. Clinical trials are just the latest area where the industry's rapid growth is raising ethical questions. Kalshi claims such bets will provide a new source of information about which drugs will get approved, and what clinical trials will show promising results, which the company says can help investors decide what new drugs to fund. "If you want to ban profiting from the failure of clinical trials, you would start with the stock market, where the financial incentive for this type of profit is orders of magnitude larger," said Kalshi spokesman Jack Such, pointing to stock market short sellers who have profited from clinical trial failures. "While Kalshi and the stock market are the same in this regard, they do differ in one important way: the stock market doesn't give any valuable information to researchers," Such said. Drug trial researchers, though, are far from convinced. David Tsai, who runs clinical trials at a biotech company in the San Francisco Bay Area, started an online petition pushing for such betting to be banned, making the case that betting on drug trials "threatens the very foundation of trust and integrity in biotechnology." Tsai is concerned that the prospect of betting provides those involved with a clinical trial a reason to tamper with the results for a prediction market payout. "If we were running a trial for an oncology drug that requires an infusion, a pharmacist who had placed a bet saying that it's gonna work well, or doesn't work well, could obviously adjust the infusion rate, could adjust the source temperature of the drug," he said. "They could change any number of variables that could obviously have a direct impact [on] how the trial and the data and the patient safety would come out." Another skeptic is Nicholas Zaorsky, a professor of radiation oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., who has helped run clinical trials and agrees that prediction markets can interfere with the advancement of life-saving drugs. "Prediction markets can be valuable in some settings because they aggregate information, but clinical trials are fundamentally different: investigators, coordinators, and sometimes even participants can directly influence aspects of the outcomes being wagered on," Zaorsky said. "That creates financial incentives that risk undermining trial integrity." Patient's father: People betting on trials are 'distanced from the real cost' Kalshi has tapped its own experts, including Anne Wojcicki, the founder of genetic testing company 23andMe, to vouch for the markets as a way of staying ahead of medical breakthroughs and for making clinical trials more accessible. "Most patients don't know about the choices available in clinical trials or which programs are most promising. The opportunity to have an open, transparent dataset about trial probabilities is extremely promising and empowering for people," a white paper sponsored by Kalshi stated. On Kalshi, users can currently bet on whether a weight-loss medication and a breast cancer treatment will be approved by federal regulators and on what date. Polymarket, which declined to comment, is taking wagers on the approval of cancer treatments and whether the U.S. will allow Chinese peptides to be sold to Americans. The possibility of insider trading, Kalshi argues, will be minimized by company safeguards verifying employment and tools to surveil for unusual market activity. Indeed, prediction markets have helped identify insider traders in other markets, from President Trump's teleprompter operator to former Congressman George Santos to a special forces soldier who was betting based on military intelligence about the toppling of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Given just how many people can be involved with clinical trials, Tsai thinks it might not be so easy to preemptively catch every bad actor. Pederson is also skeptical. He argues the markets obscure the patients at the center of clinical trials, who have the most at stake from their outcomes. "One of the things that has struck me about these platforms is that they're flashy and they're gamified in such a way that you're often kind of distanced from the real cost," he said. Kalshi says it is offering bets on late-stage clinical trials where participants have already been chosen. And it says it won't allow betting on markets where all trial subjects are minors. But that could change. If it does, Pederson says wondering whether researchers in a trial could be motivated by prediction market profits will add to his anxieties -- and to the burden his son is already carrying. "The weight on him and what he's being asked to do, and what he's being asked to endure, is already so much," Pederson said. He hopes that Kalshi and Polymarket will stop letting speculators place bets that clinical trials won't succeed. Bettors, he argues, should not be rooting for an experimental medicine to fail just to earn a buck. "It's a dark idea," he said. "It's quite ghastly."

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KPBS18d ago
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Kalshi and Polymarket bets on clinical trials criticized as 'ghastly'

Anthropic Tests Recruits On Safety Vs Equity As $2T Odds Rise

Anthropic Asks Recruits How They'd Feel if Its Stock Hit Zero. Traders See 68% Chance of $2 Trillion This Year Anthropic reportedly screens job candidates with a culture interview testing whether they would put the company's mission ahead of their future wealth. One applicant was asked how they would feel if a safety decision sent Anthropic's stock to zero. Polymarket traders see a radically different future for the Claude maker, giving Anthropic a 68% chance of reaching a $2 trillion valuation by year-end and a 47% chance of hitting $2.5 trillion. Would You Sacrifice Your Anthropic Fortune? Axios reported that every Anthropic job candidate undergoes a culture interview conducted by an employee nominated for the role. The questions are suggested rather than fully scripted, according to a former employee familiar with the process. Axios cited a Blind post from a candidate who said they would not be happy if the stock went to zero, arguing that Anthropic should pursue its mission while building a sustainable business. The candidate said the interviewer "didn't seem to like that answer." Trending Get a 1% Match on Your First Deposit of $1,000+ The concern appears to come from the top. CEO Dario Amodei has himself questioned whether newer employees are joining for the right reasons, a source told Axios. Employees Are Betting on the Upside Anthropic employees have already had an opportunity to exchange their future upside for cash. Investors reportedly lined up roughly $6 billion for a tender offer priced at a $350 billion valuation, but current and former employees declined to sell enough shares to meet that demand. The value of that decision has risen sharply on paper. Anthropic's May funding round valued the company at $965 billion, while its Nasdaq Private Market mark has since reached about $1.22 trillion. Its annualized revenue run rate surged from $9 billion at the end of 2025 to more than $65 billion by July. Amodei reportedly owns about 2% of Anthropic, a stake that would be worth roughly $40 billion at a $2 trillion valuation, although he has pledged to donate 80% of his wealth. Anthropic Has Already Faced the Choice Anthropic lost a Pentagon contract worth up to $200 million after rejecting Claude's use for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. The resulting supply-chain designation threatened hundreds of millions or potentially billions more in 2026 revenue, the company told a court. In February, however, Anthropic revised its safety policy and removed a pledge to pause scaling or delay deployment if its safeguards failed to keep pace with model capabilities. The company said pausing alone could make the world less safe if less cautious rivals continued developing more powerful systems. Together, the two episodes show how Anthropic handles the trade-off in practice: it has sacrificed revenue over specific uses of Claude, but will not necessarily slow development while its rivals continue. Image: Shutterstock Markets Dan Ives Says Nvidia's 15% AI Server Price Hike Is Bullish for Tech. Could Micron Be the Real Winner? Prices for Nvidia-powered AI servers are rising more than 15% as memory costs surge. Dan Ives says the move is bullish, but Micron could benefit most. 3 min read Read this article Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

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Benzinga18d ago
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Anthropic Tests Recruits On Safety Vs Equity As $2T Odds Rise

CFTC backs Polymarket case against US soldier

We uphold a strict editorial policy that focuses on factual accuracy, relevance, and impartiality. Our in-house created content is meticulously reviewed by a team of seasoned editors to ensure compliance with the highest standards in reporting and publishing. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is backing the criminal case against Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a US Army master sergeant accused of using classified military information to make more than $400,000 trading Polymarket event contracts tied to Venezuela and Nicolás Maduro. In an August 21 notice, the CFTC asked the US District Judge Margaret M. Garnett for permission to file an amicus brief supporting prosecutors as Van Dyke seeks to dismiss Commodity Exchange Act charges. He argues the contracts are not swaps under federal law and says applying its anti-fraud provision to his conduct would be unconstitutional. "Both contentions are wrong," CFTC Counselor Cameron Sinsheimer wrote in the letter. The regulator argues Congress defined swaps broadly enough to include the event contracts Van Dyke traded. It says adopting his interpretation could also significantly restrict federal oversight of prediction markets. "Van Dyke's distortion of the CEA's text, if accepted, would undermine the Commission's jurisdiction over a huge range of event contracts whose notional volume totals into the tens of billions of dollars," Sinsheimer wrote. CFTC says Polymarket event contracts fall under federal swaps law in US soldier case Van Dyke, 38, served with US Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Prosecutors say his role in Operation Absolute Resolve gave him access to classified and other nonpublic details about a mission targeting Maduro. "The core theory of the Indictment is that Van Dyke took information that he had pledged to keep confidential and, though he was duty-bound not to do so, he used it to make a personal profit," prosecutors said. Van Dyke had signed nondisclosure agreements covering classified material. One agreement concerning "Western Hemisphere Operations" said information obtained through his work "is now and will remain the property of the United States Government." According to prosecutors, he opened a Polymarket account on December 26, 2025, before spending about $33,934 on contracts involving Venezuela and Maduro through January 2. US special forces captured Maduro and his wife in Caracas on January 3. Prosecutors say the successful trades left Van Dyke with more than $400,000 in net profit. A grand jury indicted him in April on five counts covering confidential government information, commodities and swap fraud, wire fraud and an unlawful monetary transaction. He pleaded not guilty and was released on $250,000 bail with travel restrictions. Prosecutors have called it the Justice Department's first criminal insider-trading prosecution involving prediction markets. Van Dyke moved to dismiss the indictment on July 31. Van Dyke "committed an old crime on a new platform," they said. "Because the Indictment alleges all that it must," prosecutors said, "the next step is trial." The CFTC also rejects Van Dyke's argument that he lacked sufficient notice that federal law covered his alleged conduct. It points to the Commodity Exchange Act, its own regulatory actions and similar contracts traded on CFTC-registered exchanges. The agency says its proposed filing could help the court address legal questions with implications beyond Van Dyke's prosecution. "Here, the proposed amicus brief is both timely and useful, and will aid the court in its deliberation of this matter by offering insights not available from the parties," Sinsheimer wrote. Featured image: CFTC via Wikimedia Commons / Canva

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ReadWrite18d ago
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CFTC backs Polymarket case against US soldier

Researchers: 152 Polymarket "Orca" Traders Likely Bet on Inside Military Information - NaturalNews.com

According to the group's analysis, first reported by Reuters, the wallets earned about $8 million combined and posted an average win rate of 97.2% across their wagers. The report by ACDC comes as policymakers scrutinize the prediction-market industry. It also followed Army soldier Gannon Ken Van Dyke being charged with using classified information to place bets on a prediction market. The U.S. Department of State has issued a memorandum reminding employees worldwide that using undisclosed official information for financial gain is a "very serious offense" that will not be tolerated, according to a Wall Street Journal report covered by Russia Today . Research Methodology and "Orca" Identification ACDC said it analyzed all settled markets through May 5. It defined a long-shot bet as at least $2,500 placed cumulatively within an hour on an outcome with odds of 35% or less. Under that definition, the group identified 556 "Orca" wallets. The name comes from the killer whale's precise hunting behavior, ACDC said. Those traders often opened accounts, placed successful long-shot bets in niche markets, cashed out and disappeared, according to the group. The group's method mirrors patterns seen in traditional markets. Nearly 10,000 crude oil short contracts, valued at approximately $920 million, were placed at 3:40 a.m. on May 6, and Axios reported that Washington and Tehran were nearing an agreement at 4:50 a.m., according to market commentary platform the Kobeissi Letter . Analysts have also documented approximately $7 billion in suspiciously timed oil futures trades across four separate days in March and April, executed before major U.S.-Iran announcements, according to a separate review . Limitations and Alternative Explanations ACDC said Orca traits could be explained by pure luck, and not all potential insiders fit the pattern. Van Dyke, who was charged with using classified information to bet on the removal of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, built his position slowly and is not among the 152 wallets identified, the group said. Some military Orca wallets had been flagged before, but ACDC said it found dozens more previously unreported wallets. A Department of War spokesperson said the department does not comment on intelligence-related matters or third-party research findings. Copycat Bets and Security Risks The report said military Orca trades appeared to attract copycat bets from deep-pocketed "Whales" and automated bots. This pattern may amplify and broadcast insider signals to foreign adversaries, according to the research. An Orca bet on U.S. military action in Iran hours before June 2025 strikes was followed by copycat wagers of $200,000 and $100,000, the research found. U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites that month were followed by Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime chokepoint . According to the research, similar Orca bets before the Feb. 28 U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Tehran prompted a flurry of first-time long-shot bets. The report said the rapid succession of wagers showed that public order books can reveal sensitive trading patterns in real time. Polymarket and Regulatory Response Polymarket did not respond to requests for comment. The company has said it monitors suspicious activity and has referred dozens of trader wallets to authorities, including in the Maduro case. Polymarket has said its public ledger allows for greater scrutiny of trading behavior. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission declined to comment on the findings. The agency has said it will strictly police misconduct and has brought charges in at least three cases. Polymarket has drawn attention for its high-profile political markets; in July 2024, the platform reported that odds of then-Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance being picked as Donald Trump's running mate had risen by 287% . Recommendations and Conclusions ACDC recommends requiring all traders to prove identity, withholding payouts on suspicious trades pending investigation, and banning markets where non-public information may be most actionable and profitable, the group said. ACDC co-founder David Szakonyi said "it would be naive to think foreign-intelligence agencies aren't monitoring these markets." The group said limiting who can bet or relying on law enforcement "will not be enough." The findings also raise broader questions about data collection and privacy. One book describes a future in which artificial intelligence replaces individual choice . Another notes that cybersecurity efforts using large-scale data systems have not yet taken hold, citing breaches at Equifax, Yahoo and Under Armour .

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NaturalNews.com18d ago
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Researchers: 152 Polymarket "Orca" Traders Likely Bet on Inside Military Information - NaturalNews.com

$20 Polymarket referral code "CUSE" scheduled for Liberty-Fever tonight

Polymarket recently scheduled the referral code CUSE ahead of the weekend's exciting WNBA slate, which features the New York Liberty vs. Indiana Fever on Saturday, August 22. New users have enough time to enter the Polymarket referral code CUSE before the WNBA matchup to secure a $20 bonus after depositing $10. Indiana currently holds the narrow edge in the supplied Polymarket market, with the Fever priced at 55¢ compared with 46¢ for New York, creating an early point of separation in what the market currently views as a competitive Saturday matchup. Using the Polymarket Referral Code CUSE for Liberty-Fever: Registering for an account with Polymarket and claiming its $20 bonus offer before Saturday can be accomplished in five simple steps: Note: The Polymarket referral code CUSE must be entered at registration. Polymarket Referral Code CUSE: Offer Terms New and eligible users who are interested in Polymarket's CUSE offer can find the full list of pertinent details on it below: * Bonus: $20 in trading funds * Deposit required: $10 first deposit * Total starting balance: $30 to trade * Eligibility: New Polymarket US accounts only * Code to enter: CUSE * Valid as of: Saturday, August 22, 2026 * Market access: Full Polymarket catalog -- WNBA, politics, finance, crypto, global events * Payout structure: Peer-to-peer; odds set by users, not a house Liberty-Fever Polymarket Odds: Note: Polymarket WNBA odds update in real time as traders react to news, injuries, and market momentum. Trade full Polymarket odds for Liberty-Fever here. The difference remains modest. Indiana sits at 55¢, giving the Fever the current market advantage, while the Liberty remain close behind at 46¢. With plenty of time still separating the current market from Saturday's matchup, a combination of lineup developments, availability news and participant activity can move both prices before tipoff. Polymarket WNBA Markets for New York Readers: Polymarket US uses a peer-to-peer prediction-market structure, allowing WNBA prices to respond directly to participant activity as new information reaches the market. For Polymarket WNBA markets specifically, the Polymarket odds shift immediately after any relevant info drops -- often faster and more accurately than any adjusted sportsbook line. Injury updates, rotation changes and player availability can quickly alter the price before tipoff. Saturday's current market gives Indiana a slight advantage, but New York remains well within range at 46¢. That relatively narrow gap leaves room for additional movement as the matchup approaches. Verified Polymarket Referral Codes (Liberty-Fever): CUSE is one of five verified publication codes associated with the current Polymarket referral offer. Each code carries the same current $20 bonus after the qualifying $10 first deposit. Register with Polymarket Referral Code CUSE for Liberty-Fever: New York and Indiana meet Saturday with the current Polymarket market leaning slightly toward the Fever. Indiana is priced at 55¢, while the Liberty sit at 46¢ in the supplied market. The Polymarket referral code CUSE is scheduled for this weekend's WNBA slate, allowing qualifying new users to claim it ahead of Liberty-Fever. Simply plug in CUSE during registration, make the required $10 first deposit and receive the $20 bonus immediately. With the current market still relatively close, additional trading activity could reshape the Polymarket odds before Saturday's tipoff.

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syracuse19d ago
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$20 Polymarket referral code "CUSE" scheduled for Liberty-Fever tonight
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