South Korea orders Polymarket block over illegal gambling concerns

South Korea has ordered access to Polymarket to be blocked after regulators found that the crypto-based prediction market provides an illegal gambling environment to domestic users. Summary South Korea has ordered access to Polymarket to be blocked over illegal gambling concerns. Regulators said Polymarket’s winner takes all structure encourages speculative gambling behaviour. Polymarket argued that its non custodial P2P model does not meet the legal requirements for gambling. The regulator said decentralized technology does not exempt the platform from South Korean law. South Korea’s Broadcasting, Media and Communications Review Committee voted on Aug. 18 to issue a corrective request requiring access to Polymarket to be blocked, concluding that parts of the platform fall under provisions covering gambling assistance, the opening of gambling venues and similar activities prohibited under the National Sports Promotion Act. The decision came after the committee examined how Polymarket creates markets, sets trading rules, processes crypto deposits and withdrawals and settles trades between users. Regulators also considered the fees collected from share trading, which they said allow ...