Polymarket Viral Videos Used $1.9 Million in Staged Bets, WSJ Probe Finds

A Wall Street Journal investigation has revealed that Polymarket, the crypto-based prediction market platform, paid content creators to stage fake winning bets on copycat versions of its website, undermining the company's promise of blockchain transparency. According to BeInCrypto, the investigation found that none of the roughly $1.9 million in bets shown across 1,105 videos were real, contradicting Polymarket's core value proposition of verifiable trades on a public ledger.

"This contradicts Polymarket's core value proposition of transparency through blockchain-verified trades, as the staged trades occurred on fake sites with no verifiable ledger."

BeInCrypto reported that the platform paid mostly college-age creators to produce the misleading content. Hacker News added that the videos featured creators reacting to outdated footage or fake headlines, making it appear they had won bets that would have actually lost money if placed on the real site.

The investigation covered 1,105 videos made by 10 creators, according to Hacker News. The staged bets were placed on a cloned website, meaning there was no verifiable blockchain record to support the claims of winning, as BeInCrypto noted. This comes as Polymarket seeks CFTC approval to bring its main exchange back to the US while offering a limited regulated version through a mobile app, Hacker News reported.

"The videos showed creators reacting to outdated footage or fake headlines, misleading viewers about winning bets that were actually placed on a cloned website and would have lost money."

The findings raise serious questions about the integrity of Polymarket's marketing practices, particularly as the company pursues regulatory approval in the United States. The use of fake bets on unauthorized sites directly contradicts the transparency that blockchain-based platforms like Polymarket typically tout as a key advantage over traditional markets.