CFTC Reexamines Polymarket Over Compliance With U.S. User Ban Settlement

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is taking another look at Polymarket’s measures to block access by US users. The agency is revisiting a matter it had previously closed, with the review also covering user geolocation checks, advertising and sign-up procedures.

Reuters reported on October 28, citing two people familiar with the matter, that the CFTC is investigating whether Polymarket complied with a 2022 settlement. Under that agreement, Polymarket agreed to block US users from accessing its offshore platform. The renewed review is part of a broader investigation into Polymarket that began earlier this year.

The CFTC is examining how Polymarket verifies users’ actual locations and whether it advertised in the US, the sources said. The platform’s sign-up process and consumer-protection measures are also under review. The CFTC and Polymarket declined to comment, and no violation has been established.

Polymarket was fined $1.4 million in 2022 over allegations that it offered unregistered event-based binary options. After trading tied to the US presidential election surged, the CFTC and the Justice Department examined whether the company was complying with the settlement. Both agencies closed that investigation in July 2025. Polymarket later sought to reenter the US market by acquiring a CFTC-licensed exchange.

A separate insider-trading case exposed how a US user allegedly accessed Polymarket’s offshore platform through a workaround. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a US Army master sergeant, is accused of using a VPN to access the platform and place bets using information tied to an operation to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Prosecutors say he put in about $34,000 and turned it into more than $400,000.

A court recently denied Van Dyke’s motion to dismiss the indictment. He has pleaded not guilty, and the trial is tentatively scheduled for December 7.