CFTC probes Polymarket’s controls and advertising activity

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating Polymarket, focusing on the blockchain-based prediction market’s internal controls and its advertising activity in the United States. What the CFTC is looking at The probe has two main threads: controls and marketing. Controls covers how Polymarket monitors trading on its platform and stops abuse. Marketing covers how it pitched itself to American users. The advertising question traces back to reporting by the Wall Street Journal in June 2026. The paper reported that Polymarket paid social media influencers approximately $1.9 million to make videos showing bets placed on the platform. The problem, per that reporting, is that many of those bets were not real. About 70% of the videos analyzed showed staged wagers rather than actual trades. The research indicates the CFTC probe was initiated in June 2026, the same month the Journal story ran. Congress and the insider trading thread The revelations drew bipartisan attention on Capitol Hill. Senators Adam Schiff and John Curtis raised questions about whether the CFTC has the enforcement muscle and consumer protection authority to oversee platforms like Polymarket. The two senator...