The Betting Markets Just Moved on Putin’s Downfall — and Some Suspect the Big Money Knows Something the Public Doesn’t

Someone just moved the market on Putin's downfall. A newly created Polymarket account placed bets large enough to shift the odds that he leaves office by year's end — raising the question of whether it's conviction or inside knowledge. The unease is real: Kremlin insiders describe "profound disappointment" with an increasingly insulated Putin, advisors reportedly feed him a false picture of the war, and one former loyalist who called him a "thief" and "war criminal" was sent to a psychiatric hospital. The odds still favor him staying. The direction of the money doesn't.