A French user of the Polymarket platform did not win 50 million dollars as initially announced, but 85 million dollars in profits (a little over 80 million euros) thanks to a series of bets on the victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election, the company Chainalysis said on Wednesday.
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.
The Frenchman bet 70 million via 11 accounts
Last month, Polymarket confirmed that a French bettor had placed considerable sums on the election of the Republican candidate. Specializing in the analysis of cryptocurrency transactions, Chainalysis 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 Chainalysis.
The player bet some 70 million dollars (more than 66 million euros) in total on the victory of the Republican candidate, ultimately recovering this sum, as well as an additional 85 million dollars. Contacted by Wall Street Journalhe confirmed that he had indeed made a profit of this amount. When asked, Polymarket did not respond immediately.
A platform prohibited to American residents
Polymarket is an offshore betting platform launched in 2020, on which you can only bet in cryptocurrency. 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. All accounts identified by Chainalysis as belonging to the same person appear in the top 20 biggest gains published by Polymarket.
Polymarket platform raided in New York
According to several American media, the New York home of the CEO and founder of the platform, Shayne Coplan, was searched on Wednesday 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 the investigation to the Axios news site as “political retaliation on the part of the government (…) for having predicted the result of the presidential election”.
