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South Korean police have opened criminal cases against 26 users of the prediction market platform Polymarket and referred 18 of them to prosecutors over roughly 17.6 billion won, about $12.7 million, in bets tied to political, economic, and social outcomes.<\/p>\n
The case, disclosed on September 17 through data from Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Geon-young’s office, sets up a legal fight over whether trading on Polymarket counts as gambling under Korean law or something closer to a derivatives investment.<\/p>\n
According to a report from Asia Economy, the Gangwon Police Agency’s Cyber Investigation Unit had booked<\/a> the 26 suspects as of September 15, and the largest single bet from one user reached about 5.7 billion won ($4.1 million).<\/p>\n Polymarket does not hold custody of user funds and settles wagers automatically in USDC or pUSD based on real-world outcomes, so it keeps no real-name list of who is trading. But law enforcement pulled public blockchain transaction records and used open-source techniques to trace the Korean users anyway.<\/p>\n Police argue the transactions amount to illegal gambling under Article 246 of the Criminal Code, pointing to a Supreme Court precedent holding that a bet counts as gambling once chance plays a role and money is staked on the result, even if skill also factors in.<\/p>\n Calling the trades an investment, in their reading, doesn’t change that a virtual asset is put at risk against an outcome nobody can know in advance.<\/p>\n The booked users argue Polymarket should be treated as a virtual asset derivatives market rather than gambling, and that is expected to become a central question once the cases reach court.<\/p>\n The setup could formally meet the legal definition of gambling according to attorney Kim Tae-rim of AXIS Law, since profits and losses turn on uncertain outcomes with virtual assets on the line.<\/p>\n The prosecutions have come after South Korea’s August 18 decision to block<\/a> domestic access to Polymarket. As CryptoPotato<\/em> reported then, authorities said the platform’s winner-takes-all structure, combined with betting on events outside users’ control, encouraged gambling behavior.<\/p>\n Polymarket had argued it fell outside Korean jurisdiction after dropping Korean language service and won-denominated payments, but the commission rejected that argument.<\/p>\n The prediction market has run into similar resistance well beyond Korea, with France, Australia and Germany restricting access, and Baltimore suing<\/a> it and rival Kalshi last month over claims they operate as unlicensed sportsbooks.<\/p>\n The post Report: $12.7M in Polymarket Wagers Triggers Criminal Cases in South Korea<\/a> appeared first on CryptoPotato<\/a>.<\/p>\n\nSouth Korea Had Already Blocked Polymarket Access<\/h2>\n
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