Romania’s Nationwide Workplace for Playing (ONJN) has blacklisted main prediction market Polymarket, calling it an unlicensed playing platform working exterior state oversight.
The choice follows what regulators described as a surge in crypto-based betting throughout Romania’s presidential and native elections, the place Polymarket’s buying and selling quantity reportedly exceeded $600 million, according to a latest assertion from the regulator.
ONJN added that the platform’s exercise constitutes “counterpart betting,” which means customers wager cash in opposition to each other on the outcomes of future occasions, a mannequin that falls squarely beneath playing legal guidelines, no matter its blockchain-based format.
ONJN President Vlad-Cristian Soare confused that the transfer “is just not about expertise, however concerning the regulation.” He mentioned that whether or not bets are made in lei or crypto, they nonetheless qualify as playing and should be licensed.
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Romania says Polymarket’s occasion buying and selling is playing
Authorities cited a number of violations, together with an absence of fiscal reporting, participant safety mechanisms, and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) oversight.
Whereas Polymarket manufacturers itself as an “occasion buying and selling” platform, ONJN argued that its construction, with customers betting cash on unsure outcomes and the platform taking a fee, meets all authorized definitions of playing. Romanian web suppliers will now be required to dam entry to the positioning.
The motion mirrors related measures taken elsewhere. Polymarket was fined by the US Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC) in 2022 for operating unregistered derivatives markets, forcing it to dam American customers.
Regulators in Belgium, France, Poland, Singapore and Thailand have also restricted access. Regardless of these challenges, Polymarket has continued to develop, not too long ago securing a $2 billion investment from Intercontinental Alternate, dad or mum firm of the New York Inventory Alternate.
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Polymarket prepares US comeback
Polymarket is reportedly preparing to resume trading in the US inside weeks, focusing first on sports-related markets. Based on Bloomberg, the platform goals to reopen restricted buying and selling for US customers earlier than the tip of November.
The transfer follows the CFTC’s recent no-action letter to a crypto derivatives change acquired by Polymarket, successfully clearing the best way for its relaunch.
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