WSJ reports Polymarket CEO allegedly instructed staff to continue growth despite $10M stolen-card fraud attempt, suggesting willingness to accept regulatory fines.
Regulation & Gov ·
In February, fraudsters exploited stolen debit cards to create accounts on Polymarket US, attempting to route at least $10 million through trading and cash withdrawals. The payment processor handling transactions flagged more than 80% of deposits as fraudulent, a rate vastly above the industry standard of roughly 1%, signaling severe compromise of the platform's transaction screening.
According to sources familiar with internal discussions, CEO Shayne Coplan reportedly directed staff to continue scaling operations despite the fraud incident, with an implied willingness to absorb regulatory penalties if enforcement action materialized. The response contrasted sharply with the severity of the fraud volume and detection rate, suggesting a calculation that growth outweighed compliance costs.
Polymarket has stated it maintains procedures for detecting suspicious activity and intends to cooperate with regulators and law enforcement. The extent of any actual regulatory investigation, the timeline for enforcement action, and whether additional internal controls have since been implemented remain unclear.