Polymarket Faces Renewed CFTC Probe Over Whether It Broke 2022 Settlement: Report

Polymarket is under CFTC investigation over whether it lived up to a 2022 settlement under which it agreed to keep US users off its offshore prediction market, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

According to the report, investigators are looking at how Polymarket determined where its customers were located, its advertising in the US, and customer onboarding and protections on the US platform it began rolling out late last year. The scrutiny of whether Polymarket kept US users out focuses on its past controls and processes, one source told Reuters.

Reuters said the settlement questions fall under a wider CFTC investigation opened earlier this year. Several outlets reported in June on that probe. Reuters said that scope had not been reported before.

Spokespeople for the CFTC, Polymarket and the Justice Department declined to comment to Reuters, and none had issued a public statement by publication time.

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In January 2022, Polymarket settled CFTC charges that it had offered event-based binary options without being registered as an exchange, paying a $1.4 million civil penalty and agreeing to wind down markets that did not comply with the Commodity Exchange Act. As part of that settlement, Polymarket agreed to stop serving US users, according to Reuters.

The CFTC first looked into Polymarket’s compliance with the deal in the run-up to the 2024 election, alongside a parallel Justice Department inquiry, and the FBI searched CEO Shayne Coplan‘s home in New York in November 2024. Both agencies ended those probes in July 2025 without bringing charges.

Shortly after, Polymarket bought a CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange, which it later used to launch its US business. The company has said it has revamped its controls, prohibits VPNs and similar workarounds to its geographic restrictions, and monitors for misconduct. Shana Bautista, Polymarket’s global head of investigations and intelligence, told Reuters in August that US users getting around those restrictions was not “a really prevalent issue.”

Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a US soldier, was charged in April by the CFTC and the Justice Department, which allege he made $400,000 trading on inside information on Polymarket’s offshore site. According to the indictment, he reached the site through a VPN. He has pleaded not guilty. Polymarket has said it referred the case to authorities.

The report comes days after Polymarket pushed out chief marketing officer Matthew Modabber, according to a separate report, and less than two weeks after it took Ohio to federal court citing new CFTC rules.

Reuters noted that the new details raise questions about why the earlier probes were closed, and that an investigation does not necessarily point to wrongdoing.

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