Polymarket's CEO Shayne Coplan responds after FBI raid
Polymarket
- The FBI conducted a raid at Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan's home on Wednesday morning, a spokesperson confirmed to BI.
- The 26-year-old CEO's devices were confiscated, according to multiple reports.
- Polymarket received attention this year after predicting the outcome of the US election.
Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan was the subject of an FBI raid Wednesday morning, a company spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider.
The spokesperson did not provide details and a spokesperson for the FBI declined to comment. Coplan's phone and electronic devices were confiscated, according to several reports.
The raid was tied to a US Justice Department investigation into the company and whether it accepted trades from users in the US, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Polymarket is currently unavailable to customers in the US, but some traders have found workarounds through VPNs.
The platform is already under legal scrutiny by French gambling regulators to ensure that the site is complying with domestic laws.
Soon after the raid, the 26-year-old CEO posted on X: "new phone, who dis?"
Polymarket is an online prediction markets platform that received hype earlier this year as it showed traders highly bullish on a second Trump administration while polls continued to show a tight race.
Donald Trump's electoral victory on November 5 appeared to give further credence to the idea that betting markets could be a more accurate barometer for election outcomes than traditional polls. According to a research by Chainalysis, one trader was estimated to rake in more than $85 million with Trump's win.
"On Polymarket it looked like a done deal, and if you were just watching TV, you would think it's neck and neck," Coplan said on CNBC's Squawk Box.
The Polymarket spokesperson said the incident was an act of "political retribution" by the Biden administration.
"Polymarket is a fully transparent prediction market that helps everyday people better understand the events that matter most to them, including elections," the spokesperson said. "We charge no fees, take no trading positions, and allow observers from around the world to analyze all market data as a public good. We look forward to standing up for ourselves and our community and continuing to help everyday people understand important world events."
Coplan also posted on X Wednesday evening that it was "discouraging that the current administration would seek a last-ditch effort to go after companies they deem to be associated with political opponents."
A Biden administration spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.