The crypto prediction market operator Polymarket has ceased to accept French players after the country’s gambling regulator, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), told it to cease trading in the market.
Polymarket’s profile increased considerably during the US presidential elections when, alongside US-based operator Kalshi, it was massively promoted on X/Twitter by Elon Musk as both companies’ markets predicted victory for Donald Trump.
It then emerged that one of its biggest clients, known as “The Polymarket Whale”, was a French national named ‘Théo’ who is alleged to have made $80m from backing Trump. A few days after the elections, the company’s CEO Shayne Coplan was visited by FBI agents, who seized his mobile phone and other electronic equipment.
