A nice jackpot. A user of the Polymarket platform made $85 million in profits (a little over €80 million) thanks to a series of bets on Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election. 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, the company Chainalysis carried out cross-checking and identified 11 accounts with similar characteristics. They were fed at the same time, placed bets at the same time, and drained at the same time.
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.
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 Polymarket spokesperson described the investigation to the Axios news site as “political retaliation on the part of the government.” […] for predicting the outcome of the presidential election.
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