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Maduro Bet Fallout Puts Prediction Markets Under Scrutiny as Congress Targets Insider Trades

Support is coalescing around Rep. Ritchie Torres’s plan to bar federal insiders from wagering on event contracts.

Overview

  • An anonymous Polymarket account created in late December turned roughly $34,000 into more than $400,000 by betting Maduro would be out by January, with the last trade minutes before the U.S. operation.
  • At least 30 House Democrats now back Torres’s Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act, and Rep. Dina Titus has pressed Polymarket’s CEO for details on anti–insider trading safeguards.
  • Kalshi says it already bans insider trading and supports measures to restrict government employees from trading on policy-related markets, contrasting its stance with activity on unregulated venues.
  • Regulatory gaps and enforcement hurdles persist as the CFTC’s authority and resources are limited, users can trade pseudonymously or offshore, and state regulators—including New York—pursue challenges.
  • Polymarket has faced backlash over a Venezuela ‘invasion’ market after stating the Maduro raid did not meet its criteria for a U.S. operation intended to establish control, prompting payout disputes.