CFTC is again investigating whether Polymarket broke its 2022 settlement, sources tell Reuters

As of 6:55 a.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether prediction-market operator Polymarket violated a 2022 enforcement settlement in which it agreed to keep U.S. users off its main overseas platform, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, in an exclusive report by Chris Prentice.

Spokespeople for the CFTC and Polymarket declined to comment, Reuters reported. An investigation is not proof of wrongdoing, and many do not lead to enforcement action. Polymarket has not been accused of any new violation.

Reuters reported that the inquiry is part of a broader CFTC investigation of the company opened earlier this year. According to the sources, it revives a question the agency dropped last year without bringing charges.

What the agency is examining

The CFTC is looking at how Polymarket determined where its customers were located and at its advertising in the United States, the people told Reuters. One of them said the focus is on the company's past controls and processes. The agency is also scrutinizing Polymarket's U.S. platform, which the company began rolling out late last year, including how it onboards and protects customers, according to the sources.

Polymarket says it bans the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) and similar tools to get around its geographic restrictions, and that it has extensive controls to keep restricted users off its offshore platform, Reuters reported.

The 2022 settlement

In January 2022, the CFTC said Polymarket had been offering event-based binary options contracts without registering with the agency or being designated by it. In a settlement in which the company neither admitted nor denied the findings, the agency ordered Polymarket to pay a $1.4 million civil penalty and wind down noncompliant markets.

The CFTC and the Justice Department opened investigations in 2024 into whether Polymarket was complying with that deal, and the FBI searched CEO Shayne Coplan's New York home in November 2024, Reuters reported. In July 2025, Coplan said on X that both agencies had closed their probes. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment for Reuters' story.