Polymarket's U.S. platform hit by debit-card fraud; CEO allegedly urged growth and paying penalties
AI Market Summary
Reported large-scale debit card fraud on Polymarket's U.S. platform and an alleged "grow now, pay fines later" stance heighten regulatory and compliance risk around crypto-adjacent prediction markets. If validated, this could pressure payment rails, increase chargebacks and processor de-risking, and tighten onboarding/limits across similar venues, dampening near-term activity and liquidity where fiat onramps are central.
Impact level
● Medium
Affected assets
DEBIT/USDT-9.21%
AI Insight · DEBIT/USDTAI Insight
▼ Bearish
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ChainCatcher reported that in February, a debit-card payments processor working with Polymarket's U.S. betting platform warned that fraudsters were swarming the app. According to the report, users linked stolen debit cards to Polymarket U.S. accounts to place bets and then withdraw funds to "clean" cards or accounts they controlled, in an alleged attempt to steal at least $10 million.
The processor said it at one point flagged more than 80% of deposits as fraudulent, far above the industry norm of about 1%. Polymarket staff escalated the issue to CEO Shayne Coplan. People familiar with the matter said the compliance team was stunned by Coplan's response: prioritize growth and pay fines if regulators eventually intervene.
