JOE RAEDLE / Getty Images via AFP
The victory of the New York billionaire in the American presidential election was a good thing for this French bettor who won $85 million.
MONEY – Donald Trump won everything on Wednesday November 6, this Frenchman too. While the real estate magnate was re-elected and will be invested next January, and also has a majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives, a Frenchman won the jackpot by betting astronomical sums on the victory of the Republican candidate. Bingo.
According to the Wall Street Journalhe is a French national called Théo, a former trader who did not want to publicly reveal his last name. Last month, Polymarket confirmed that a French bettor had placed considerable sums on the election of the Republican candidate.
The player bet some $70 million in total on the victory of the Republican candidate, ultimately recovering this sum, as well as an additional $85 million. Contacted by Wall Street Journal, the Frenchman confirmed that he had indeed made a profit of this amount.
Specializing in the analysis of cryptocurrency transactions, Chainalysis, which confirmed the news to AFP, carried out cross-checks and identified 11 accounts with similar characteristics. They were fed at the same time, made bets at the same time and were emptied simultaneously, according to data collected and cross-referenced by the American company. All accounts identified by Chainalysis as belonging to the same person appear in the top 20 biggest gains published by Polymarket.
A site prohibited to American residents
Polymarket is an offshore betting platform launched in 2020, on which you can only bet in cryptocurrency, unlike traditional sports betting sites for example. It is theoretically prohibited for American residents. Like other betting sites, Polymarket gave Donald Trump a marked advantage before the election, contradicting polls that put him neck and neck with Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
According to several American media, the New York home of the CEO and founder of the platform, Shayne Coplan, was searched on Wednesday November 13 by agents of the FBI, the American federal police. According to the New York Postthe FBI seized the Polymarket boss’s phone and other electronic devices. The origin and purpose of the investigation remain undetermined.
A spokesperson for Polymarket described, to the Axios information site, the investigation as “political reprisals on the part of the government (…) for having predicted the result of the presidential election”.
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