2022 Settlement Imposed $1.4 Million Fine and Compliance Obligations on Polymarket
Key Facts
Details of the new investigation reportedly involving the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Polymarket could not be verified because the Reuters report cited in the material could not be opened. It is therefore not possible to establish the investigation’s scope or whether it concerns enforcement of the 2022 settlement terms against the international platform. The regulatory record shows that on January 3, 2022, the commission announced a settlement of charges against Blockratize, Polymarket’s operator. The charges concerned offering event-based binary options contracts off-exchange and operating without registering as a designated contract market or swap execution facility. The settlement ordered the company to pay a $1.4 million civil penalty and to address markets that violated the Commodity Exchange Act and the commission’s regulations.
The commission’s order said the company must end trading on markets offered on Polymarket.com that did not comply with the relevant law and regulations, and cease the violation. The order set January 14, 2022, as the deadline to stop offering trading in noncompliant markets. It also required the company to submit a certification to the commission by January 24, 2022, confirming that it had met its obligations. These terms show that the settlement included specific deadlines to address the violations, while the available excerpt does not establish that it imposed a general ban on U.S. users. On its current transparency page, Polymarket says trading by U.S. users and people in prohibited jurisdictions is not allowed on its international platform.
Discussion of the new investigation follows earlier reports about separate regulatory matters involving the platform. On June 26, 2026, Bloomberg reported that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission was conducting a broad investigation into Polymarket, whose scope included social media activity connected to it. That was a separate investigation from the 2022 settlement, and does not by itself establish a link between the two matters. In an earlier report, Bloomberg said commission and Justice Department investigators examined whether users in the United States were betting through virtual private networks or other means to circumvent the company’s controls. The report estimated trading volume on the platform at about $2.6 billion in November, according to its account of that month.
On August 31, 2026, Reuters quoted Shana Bautista, Polymarket’s head of global investigations and intelligence, as saying the company was working to keep U.S. users off its international platform, in compliance with the enforcement settlement it reached with U.S. regulators in 2022. The report added that the company believed it had systems to monitor unusual activity ahead of the midterm elections. The statement places the platform’s stated policy in the context of its regulatory obligations, but does not establish whether U.S. authorities have opened a new investigation into its compliance with them. It also does not provide evidence that the company received a new notice or charge in the matter attributed to Reuters.
Polymarket also faces a separate dispute at the state level in New York. On September 24, 2026, the state attorney general’s office announced a lawsuit against Polymarket US, accusing the company of operating an unlicensed betting business. The state asked the court to halt the activity, impose penalties, seize what it described as illegal gains, and return money to users. The state says Polymarket US launched in the United States in December 2025. The lawsuit also alleges that the platform was available to users aged 18 to 20, although New York law requires people to be 21 to participate in mobile sports betting.