One Polymarket, two exchanges: Which one are you on?

The same brand runs a wallet-based blockchain venue with no identity checks and a federally licensed exchange requiring a government ID and a live selfie. They list different markets, settle differently, and answer to different law. Summary Polymarket operates two separate venues: an international DeFi platform settling in USDC on Polygon with wallet-based access and no identity verification, and Polymarket US, a CFTC-regulated designated contract market operated through the entity acquired as QCX. The US exchange launched in December following an amended designation order, removed its invite waitlist in May, and currently reaches users through an iOS application, with full identity verification and USD settlement through approved intermediaries. The international platform has been geoblocked from US addresses since a 2022 CFTC settlement that carried a $1.4 million penalty, and is separately blocked in more than twenty other countries. The venues list different products: the international book, sitting outside CFTC oversight, can offer contracts on conflict, leadership changes, and other sensitive events that a regulated exchange cannot. The company published harmonized integrity ...