Nearly four years after being ordered to stop doing business in the U.S. by the federal government, the Polymarket prediction platform is being “rolled out to those on the waitlist,” the business announced Wednesday.
Polymarket says that it will initially only offer bets on sports, but more markets will follow.
On Sept. 16, Polymarket signaled its looming intentions to resume business by self-certifying with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to offer sports event contracts — which comprise much of its competitors’ business — and then proposition bets, perhaps parlays, and election wagers on Sept. 30.
Polymarket waitlist
Since September, would-be American users who have visited Polymarket.us were asked to join a waitlist to be notified by text message when Polymarket’s U.S.-facing site was ready to accept registration and deposits.
Wednesday, the prediction market said it is now opening up access to some customers from that list. The site, however, still directs users to the waitlist, and not all members of the list have received invites yet.
A version of Polymarket’s API had been available to a select number of large-scale traders for weeks. Data shows that hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of contracts were traded on that version of the platform — which only offers bets on NFL and NBA games — on recent NFL Sundays.
Polymarket was able to bypass the lengthy process of CFTC registration — which can take years — by purchasing already-registered QCEX for $112 million in July. On Sept. 3, founder and CEO Shayne Coplan said Polymarket had the “green light” to resume business in the U.S. after receiving a no-action letter that concerned reporting rules.
The site had previously blocked access from the U.S., following a 2022 settlement with the CFTC over its offering of unregistered event contracts.
Read more:
- Sports Event Contracts Largely Ignored As Kalshi and Polymarket CEOs Speak At SEC-CFTC Roundtable
- Polymarket CEO Says Exchange Has ‘Green Light’ From CFTC To Return To US
- Polymarket Seeks ‘Parlay Ideas’ On Discord As US Relaunch Looms
- Donald Trump Jr. — Already An Advisor To Kalshi — Joins Polymarket’s Advisory Board
- PredictIt Gets CFTC Deal, Polymarket DOJ Probe Dropped In Signs Of Government’s Softer Stance On Event Contracts
- Polymarket’s Quarter-Billion Dollar Fashion Fail
- Kalshi Valued At $2B, Polymarket $1B, In New Funding Rounds
Brant James contributed to this report.
