The Situation Room sign at Polymarket pop-up bar on Friday, March 20, 2026 in Washington, DC, USA.
Graham Sloan | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is continuing a broad investigation into prediction market platform Polymarket, according to people familiar with the investigation.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the investigation on Friday.
A spokesperson for CFTC and Polymarket both declined to comment.
News of the investigation comes more than a week after a Wall Street Journal article revealed that Polymarket ran misleading marketing campaigns to make it seem like content creators were winning on the platform, when in fact they were not investing any money.
A person familiar with the investigation, who was not authorized to speak publicly, did not provide a timeline for when the commission’s investigation into Polymarket would begin.
Shayne Coplan, CEO and founder of Polymarket US, speaks at the FIA Global Cleared Market Conference Boca 2026 in Boca Raton, Florida, USA on March 10, 2026.
Marco Bello | Reuters
Polymarket reiterated to CNBC that it was taking action in response to the magazine’s investigation into its marketing.
“We conduct comprehensive audits to ensure active promotional content complies with our standards and applicable regulatory and legal disclosure requirements,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The CFTC investigation marks a reversal of the polymarket’s regulatory fortunes over the past year. The company was initially banned from U.S. users in 2022 for not properly registering with regulators, but investigations by the CFTC and the Department of Justice were subsequently closed without charges last July.
Polymarket’s CFTC-regulated U.S. exchange opened in December and has resumed access for domestic users, with the waiting list to access the platform lifted six weeks ago.
The CFTC, led by Chairman Michael Selig, has been active in supporting prediction markets, but the investigation into Polymarket marks the first high-profile investigation into an event contracting platform under the commission’s leadership.
