★ Government Action
Trump's commodities regulator closes Polymarket betting probe
Betting Goes LegalDonors, Cases DroppedEasing Up on Crypto
Filed July 2025
★ The Brief
What happened
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission closed its civil investigation of Polymarket in July 2025 with no action, ending a probe into whether the crypto prediction market kept taking U.S. bets after a $1.4 million 2022 fine for running an unregistered platform.
Who enabled it
Who benefits
Deal or steal?
The CFTC closed its case the same month the DOJ dropped its own Polymarket probe, weeks after Trump Jr.'s firm 1789 Capital invested in the betting platform and placed him on its board.
★ Cast your vote
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued a formal declination notice to Polymarket in early July 2025, closing its civil investigation of the prediction betting platform with no further action taken. The probe had examined whether Polymarket continued to accept bets from U.S. users despite assurances made in 2022 following a $1.4 million CFTC fine for failing to register as a facility for event-based binary options. The closure is consistent with a broader pattern of the Trump administration dropping Biden-era enforcement actions against crypto and prediction market companies, including the CFTC's May 2025 decision to drop its appeal in the KalshiEx election betting case.
Further reading
- ★ Government ActionJuly 2025DOJ drops Polymarket probe, clearing path for US reentry
- ★ Government ActionJanuary 2026Trump's commodities regulator scraps its proposed ban on betting contracts
- ★ Government ActionJanuary 2026Trump's two top market regulators launch joint 'Project Crypto'
- ★ Private ActionAugust 20251789 Capital invests in Polymarket, places partner Trump Jr. on board
- ★ Government ActionMarch 2025Polymarket CEO attends Trump White House crypto summit while under federal investigation
- ★ Government ActionOctober 2025Trump DOJ drops Roger Ver tax case for $49.9M, no guilty plea