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Investigative journalist Whitney Webb released a series of investigations about the origins and ambitions of Polymarket.She stated that the claim in Polymarket's official narrative that "Shayne Coplan founded the company alone in 2020 and started it in a bathroom" is not true; the origins of Polymarket can be traced back to the earlier company TokenBnk and has connections to Israeli-related crypto projects.Webb said that the first part of the series will outline Polymarket's early history and discuss its potential connections with Peter Thiel-related forces and DARPA's early prediction market projects.

According to BBX data, the prediction market faced a dual attack yesterday, with traditional exchange infrastructure accelerating its on-chain transition. The core dynamics are as follows:The prediction market/event contract ecosystem where Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ: $HOOD) operates suffered a dual regulatory blow yesterday: first, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has launched a comprehensive investigation into Polymarket (privately held), covering its social media activities and suspected wash trading behaviors; second, a Michigan court ruled to prohibit Kalshi (privately held) from offering sports betting services to residents in Michigan. Although these two incidents directly target Polymarket and Kalshi, their strategic importance to Robinhood cannot be ignored—Robinhood provides event contract products linked to KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC through its subsidiary Robinhood Derivatives LLC, making it the largest distribution channel for prediction markets among regulated brokers in the U.S. The CFTC's escalation of enforcement investigations into similar platforms will directly impact Robinhood's event contract business compliance framework and product expansion speed; in June, the average daily trading volume in this sector reached a historic record.Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ: $NDAQ) announced yesterday that it has chosen Pyth Network (on-chain price oracle protocol) as its on-chain distribution partner for TotalView (Nasdaq's full market depth data product), marking the first time Nasdaq has integrated its core institutional-level market data into a blockchain network—TotalView provides full-level buy and sell quotes and transaction data for the U.S. stock market, historically only available to traditional financial institutions (subscription-based); on-chain distribution means that DeFi protocols, decentralized exchanges, and smart contracts can now access Nasdaq-level real-time equity market data as an on-chain pricing basis for the first time. The Pyth Network token (PYTH) subsequently rose by over 6%, with the market interpreting this as a historic fusion point between traditional securities market infrastructure and decentralized finance.

According to Bloomberg, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is conducting a broad investigation into the prediction market platform Polymarket, covering its business activities including social media operations.Previously, The Wall Street Journal reported that Polymarket hired dozens of social media creators, primarily of college age, to create fake trading videos to attract users. This investigation encompasses other aspects of the company's business. The CFTC and the Department of Justice concluded an investigation last year into whether Polymarket violated the ban on U.S. users, but some U.S. users still access its main platform by circumventing the ban through VPNs and other means.Since reaching a settlement with the CFTC in 2022, Polymarket has technically prohibited U.S. users from using its main platform, but the company is taking steps to reintroduce its main exchange to the U.S. and is cooperating with the CFTC to lift the ban. Senators Adam Schiff and John Curtis sent a letter to the CFTC last Thursday, requesting confirmation of whether an investigation into Polymarket's advertising practices is ongoing and inquiring how the agency has prevented Polymarket from attracting U.S. users since the 2022 action.

According to BBX data, last weekend Japan's largest financial group completed the most important cryptocurrency acquisition, and U.S. bipartisan senators launched a new regulatory offensive against prediction market platforms. The core developments are as follows:SBI Holdings, Inc. (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 8473) announced the acquisition of the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank (privately held) for approximately $289 million. After the transaction is completed, SBI's cryptocurrency business will surpass all competitors, creating Japan's largest cryptocurrency exchange. SBI Holdings is one of Japan's largest independent financial services groups, already owning cryptocurrency-friendly network bank SBI Shinsei Bank, cryptocurrency asset custodian SBI Digital Asset Holdings, and multiple Bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency venture capital investments. Bitbank is one of Japan's largest spot BTC exchanges and holds an official cryptocurrency exchange license from the Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan. This acquisition marks a shift for traditional Japanese financial institutions from "strategic trial" in the cryptocurrency sector to "scale acquisition dominance," alongside the joint stablecoin plan of the three major banks: Mitsubishi UFJ ($MUFG), Sumitomo Mitsui ($SMFG), and Mizuho ($MFG) (targeting March 2027), forming the most intensive wave of cryptocurrency layout in Japan's financial industry by 2026.U.S. Senators John Curtis (Republican, Utah) and Adam Schiff (Democrat, California) reported on June 28 that they jointly sent a letter to the CFTC, urging it to conduct a formal investigation into the prediction market platform Polymarket (privately held), citing a "concerning" investigative report regarding Polymarket's "deceptive marketing" practices, which accused it of systematic misleading in user acquisition and risk disclosure. This is the third regulatory offensive against prediction market platforms initiated by Congress this year (previously, the House Oversight Committee launched an insider trading investigation on May 22); the two senators come from different parties, which is significant. For Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ: $HOOD), this investigation poses indirect pressure—Robinhood's prediction market/event contract business (which achieved a record daily trading volume in June) faces the same regulatory qualitative disputes as Polymarket; however, Robinhood's defensive advantage lies in its ongoing application for a CFTC Designated Contract Market (DCM) license, providing a clearer compliance path compared to Polymarket.

Blockchain intelligence company AMLBot's monitoring data shows that recently Polymarket users on the Polygon network had approximately $3.1 million PUSD stolen due to a front-end malicious script intrusion.The attackers implanted a malicious script that induced users to sign authorization transactions (involving EIP-7702 delegated execution), resulting in the users' wallets being emptied. The stolen funds were then converted to USDC.e through Relay, bridged to Ethereum, and ultimately exchanged for ETH, which was concentrated in a designated address. Currently, about 1891.9 ETH is distributed across three new wallets.AMLBot pointed out that this attack is similar to the incident involving the 2024 1inch web application, where a wallet theft script was implanted in the Lottie Player library, both cases involved third-party scripts being compromised, leading to front-end contamination.

Polymarket's Vice President of Product Engineering and former Craft co-founder Balint Orosz tweeted that Polymarket has acquired the productivity app Craft Agents, and some team members from Craft will join Polymarket.

According to the Wall Street Journal, several U.S. lawmakers are calling for an investigation into the prediction market platform Polymarket, as its advertising is alleged to potentially contain misleading content.It is reported that the lawmakers believe Polymarket may not clearly disclose the nature of its products and associated risks in its marketing, which could mislead users. Some legislators have requested regulatory agencies to intervene and assess the compliance of its advertising and information disclosure standards.

According to CNBC, Polymarket stated that its annual revenue has significantly exceeded $1 billion, a development that comes just six weeks after its U.S. trading platform lifted the waiting list. The platform operates independently from its international DeFi prediction market and will gradually expand user access after its launch in December this year.Driven by the FIFA World Cup, the trading activity in the prediction market has significantly increased, with trading volumes across multiple platforms rising simultaneously. Data shows that the daily trading volume on the U.S. platform has grown from about $50 million in mid-May to over $200 million on June 20 (based on Dune Analytics data).Meanwhile, its international platform set a record for weekly trading volume during the World Cup, reversing the downward trend seen in April and May. The U.S. business was previously restricted due to regulatory issues in 2022, but resumed operations in the form of a regulated exchange after the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Department of Justice dropped their investigation and did not file charges in 2024.Currently, the U.S. platform is primarily mobile-based, requiring users to download the app via a QR code to trade, with the desktop version not yet available. Polymarket stated that it will continue to optimize market experience, liquidity, and product design to enhance both institutional and consumer-level experiences in the prediction market.

According to the official announcement, Gate has optimized and upgraded the VIP level evaluation rules. Starting today, Polymarket trading volume and asset holdings will officially be included in the VIP level evaluation system. This adjustment further broadens the VIP upgrade path, allowing Polymarket trading users to fully enjoy the level growth and exclusive rights brought by trading activities and asset holdings.It is reported that Gate continues to improve the VIP exclusive rights ecosystem, creating a high-end service system around multiple dimensions such as trading, wealth management, and lifestyle. Recently, the platform has successively launched VIP exclusive airdrop activities for whiskey, gold jewelry, and more, as well as providing exclusive financial products, higher-level income rights, and diversified benefits such as sports event viewing and invitations to offline activities.Gate will continue to organize VIP users to watch events at Inter Milan and F1 venues, experiencing exclusive hospitality and the atmosphere of top-tier events, creating a richer exclusive experience for high-level users.

According to data from @defioasis, the total amount of Polymarket pUSD has surpassed 500 million dollars, with the total number of holders exceeding 1 million. Among them, 567 addresses hold more than 100,000 pUSD, meaning that 0.06% of addresses hold 55.34% of the pUSD balance; addresses holding more than 1,000 pUSD account for 2.76%, collectively holding 90.34% of the pUSD balance; 51.96% of holders possess less than 10 pUSD, which only accounts for 0.19% of the pUSD balance. pUSD represents the cash flow balance of Polymarket users. Although some users have all their funds tied up in positions, this still reflects the extreme wealth disparity phenomenon in the prediction market.

According to Cointelegraph, a study based on 857,000 active users of Polymarket shows that about 60% of users who placed their first bets during the World Cup had never interacted with blockchain protocols before.Alvin Kan, Chief Operating Officer of Bitget Wallet, stated that prediction markets have changed the traditional logic for crypto users to get involved—users no longer need to understand blockchain technology first, but can participate directly because they have opinions on real-world events. This has made prediction markets a new entry point for some users into the crypto space.Data shows that the trading volume of Polymarket's World Cup champion contracts has exceeded $3.1 billion, with sports contracts contributing over $4.9 billion in trading volume to Polymarket in the past 30 days, and reaching $8.5 billion on Kalshi, becoming the main trading category on both platforms.

On-chain security analyst Specter stated that a phishing attack suspected to target Polymarket users is currently occurring, with total losses amounting to approximately $2.94 million.According to its monitoring, attackers have transferred funds from more than 11 victim wallets holding PUSD, converting the stolen assets into ETH, while reminding users to be cautious of phishing risks and stating that the incident is still under ongoing investigation.

The predictive market analysis platform Polysights announced the completion of a $1.5 million financing round, with investors including YZi Labs S3, Maven 11 Capital, Varys Capital, Contribution Capital, and Edge Ventures.Polysights is building an automated and intelligent infrastructure for predictive markets. According to reports, Polysights is based on artificial intelligence technology and is aimed at individual traders and various institutions, enabling wallet-associated cluster screening, market anomaly detection, and the ability to analyze various trading strategies in predictive markets.

Blockchain data infrastructure startup Cambrian has completed a $6 million seed round financing, led by Franklin Templeton and Polychain Capital, with participation from Flow Traders, Selini Capital, Paper Ventures, Nomad Capital, and others.Cambrian also previously secured $5.9 million in pre-seed financing led by a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator, bringing the total funding to $11.9 million. It is reported that Cambrian was established in 2024 and currently provides APIs for institutions and AI Agents, covering real-time and historical on-chain data such as yield, risk, lending rates, trading activity, liquidity positions, and market sentiment, helping users allocate capital on-chain.The company plans to expand its existing APIs into a verifiable blockchain data oracle network, serving institutional financial clients, AI Agent builders, and protocols that need reliable data to control the flow of funds. Unlike traditional oracles that mainly provide price data, Cambrian aims to aggregate lending protocol data, DEX liquidity, social sentiment, developer activity, and historical market data.According to Cambrian, its platform has processed millions of API calls, currently indexing approximately $4.5 billion TVL across four major lending protocols, tracking 1,789 vaults under 895 curators, and monitoring over 320,000 DEX liquidity pools on Base and Solana. The company also plans to expand trading data support, adding Hyperliquid and richer perpetual contract data.

According to TenArmorAlert monitoring, an old contract on the Polygon chain named Royalties was subjected to a suspicious attack, resulting in a loss of approximately $261,200. The transaction hash of the attack has been publicly disclosed, and TenArmor stated that its monitoring system has achieved early detection and automated response to on-chain attacks.

Senior Partner at Polychain, Josh Rosenthal, posted on X platform, "After nearly 5 years at Polychain Capital, I have decided to leave. I feel fortunate to have witnessed the birth and growth of some companies that defined the cryptocurrency industry up close, for which I will always be grateful. I am now embarking on a new venture and look forward to sharing more information in the near future."

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the prediction market platform Polymarket is suspected of paying dozens of social media creators to instruct them to record fake betting and high-profit videos on a simulated website that closely resembles the official site, using this as a promotional tactic to attract new users. The report indicates that the campaign required creators to conceal the official sponsorship relationship and specifically targeted the domestic audience in the United States.The investigation shows that the related marketing videos have accumulated over 140 million views on platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, involving up to $1.9 million in false bets. In response, Polymarket did not directly address the specific details of the investigation but stated in a statement that, as part of promoting industry transparency, the platform is conducting a comprehensive audit of active promotional content to ensure it strictly complies with internal standards and applicable regulatory and legal disclosure requirements.

Polymarket has become the exclusive prediction market partner of the Bundesliga in the United States. Polymarket stated that the official event contracts of the Bundesliga and its clubs are now exclusively available on Polymarket.