Numerous Bets Related to Ongoing Los Angeles Fire Made on Cryptocurrency-Based Prediction Platform Polymarketraising ethical concerns.
What happened : More than 30,000 people had to be evacuated from the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles as a wildfire ravaged the surrounding area, endangering homes and property.
In response to this event, no less than 8 distinct betting contracts appeared on Polymarket, a prediction market based on Polygon (CRYPTO: POL) which allows users to predict the outcome of events and earn money using cryptocurrencies.
A notable question asked on the platform was “Will the Palisades Fire be contained by Friday?” », for an amount of nearly 87,000 dollars in bets. Oddsmakers only saw a 2% chance of that happening.
Another bet was headlined “Will the Palisades fire spread to Santa Monica by Sunday?” » According to betting, the odds were 66% in favor of this situation at the time of writing.
These bets provoked strong reactions from the public. Jacob R. Adkinsuser »
Another user, calling themselves corp_liberation, called betting “immoral.” »
“Why have such a betting line?? It’s about people’s homes and lives. This is NOT a game! »
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Polymarket added a disclaimer for all its bets related to this natural disaster, stating that the idea was to provide factual, real-time news to those affected by the calamity.
-Please note that Polymarket is not available to US residents due to regulatory hurdles. The federal prediction platform Kalshi does not yet offer similar bets.
Oddsmakers saw a 65% chance the calamity would be completely contained by Jan. 31, according to odds in the contract titled “When Will the Palisades Fire Be Completely Contained?”
Why it matters : This is not the first time that Polymarket has come under scrutiny for its betting markets on sensitive issues.
Last year, the platform was criticized for facilitating betting on the Israeli-Lebanese conflict.
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder ofEthereum (CRYPTO: ETH), defended Polymarket, highlighting its role in providing accurate information and preventing misinformation.
It’s worth noting that Buterin has his hand in the game, having participated in Polymarket’s $70 million venture funding round in May last year.
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Disclaimer: This article was written in part with the assistance of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Synthetic image. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia
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