American election: this Frenchman bet that Trump would become president again, he won $85 million

A user of the Polymarket platform made $85 million in profits thanks to a series of bets on Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election, the company Chainalysis told AFP on Wednesday.

According to the Wall Street Journal, He 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.

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 in total on the victory of the Republican candidate, ultimately recovering this sum, as well as an additional $85 million. Contacted by le Wall Street Journalhe confirmed that he had indeed made a profit of this amount.

Paris offshore platform

Asked by AFP, Polymarket did not immediately respond. 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.

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 Post, the FBI seized the Polymarket boss's phone as well as other electronic devices. The origin and purpose of the investigation remain undetermined.

A spokesperson for Polymarket described the investigation to the Axios information site as “political retaliation by the government (…) for predicting the outcome of the presidential election».