"Grand Political Theatre" - FBI Raids Home Of Polymarket CEO; Seize Phone, Electronics
With just a few short weeks until President Trump (and his freshly appointed new AG Matt Gaetz) take over, the FBI has decided to rush in and raid the home of the founder and chief executive of Polymarket, the crypto-based prediction market that was a popular (and very accurate) platform for bets on the US presidential election.
The NY Post reports, citing a source close to the matter, that Shayne Coplan was woken up at 6:00 am Eastern Time in his New York City apartment by US law enforcement officials who demanded he hand over his phone and electronics.
It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted the FBI’s search but Polymarket quickly tied the raid to its track record in the recent election, in which bettors on its platform correctly anticipated that Donald Trump would beat Vice President Kamala Harris.
“This is obvious political retribution by the outgoing administration against Polymarket for providing a market that correctly called the 2024 presidential election,” said a spokesman for the New York-based company.
“Polymarket is a fully transparent prediction market that helps everyday people better understand the events that matter most to them, including elections,” the spokesman added.
The CEO of the decentralized prediction markets platform appeared to confirm the reports on X, claiming to make a post from a new phone.
A person close to the matter described the Coplan’s incident as “grand political theatre” to the NY Post.
“They could have asked his lawyer for any of these things.
Instead, they staged a so-called raid so they can leak it to the media and use it for obvious political reasons.”
Polymarket does not allow trading in the US, though bettors can bypass the ban by accessing the site through VPN, and Bloomberg reports that the DoJ is probing the company for allegedly accepting trades from US-based users, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Under an agreement with the CFTC reached in 2022, Polymarket is to prevent US-based traders from making transactions on the platform.
Coplan took to X once more this evening, clearly pissed off at the obvious politicization:
"It’s discouraging that the current administration would seek a last-ditch effort to go after companies they deem to be associated with political opponents. We are deeply committed to being non-partisan, and today is no different, but the incumbents should do some self-reflecting and recognize that taking a more pro-business, pro-startup approach may be what would have changed their fate this election.
Polymarket has provided value to 10's of millions of people this election cycle, while causing harm to nobody.
We're deeply proud of that.
I'm also proud to say that the future of America, and in particular American entrepreneurship, has never been brighter.
In the face of adversity, we build."
Investors in Polymarket include Founders Fund, the Silicon Valley venture firm started by billionaire Peter Thiel, and a number of prominent crypto personalities.