Report: $12.7M in Polymarket Wagers Triggers Criminal Cases in South Korea

Police used public blockchain records and open-source intelligence to trace the Polymarket users despite the platform's non-custodial design. South Korean police have opened criminal cases against 26 users of the prediction market platform Polymarket and referred 18 of them to prosecutors over roughly 17.6 billion won, about $12.7 million, in bets tied to political, economic, and social outcomes. The case, disclosed on September 17 through data from Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Geon-young’s office, sets up a legal fight over whether trading on Polymarket counts as gambling under Korean law or something closer to a derivatives investment. Blockchain Records and a Gambling Charge According to a report from Asia Economy, the Gangwon Police Agency’s Cyber Investigation Unit had booked the 26 suspects as of September 15, and the largest single bet from one user reached about 5.7 billion won ($4.1 million). Polymarket does not hold custody of user funds and settles wagers automatically in USDC or pUSD based on real-world outcomes, so it keeps no real-name list of who is trading. But law enforcement pulled public blockchain transaction records and used open-source techniques to trace th...