Singapore’s Distant Playing Act of 2014 is mainly the “no entry” signal for many on-line betting actions, except you’ve bought a government-approved stamp of approval. Sadly for Polymarket, it didn’t make the minimize.
Polymarket, the decentralized prediction market platform that permits customers to invest on real-world occasions utilizing cryptocurrency, can add Singapore to the record of nations the place it isn’t welcome.
In Singapore, playing actions are closely regulated, with the federal government permitting solely sure types of betting, similar to lotteries and sports activities betting, beneath the supervision of state-run entities.
The nation’s strict playing legal guidelines prohibit unauthorized on-line playing platforms, and Polymarket’s unregulated nature — as of Saturday, Jan. 11 — has formally gotten the boot.
Polymarket presses on
Singapore isn’t the one place with a bone to choose with Polymarket. Different international locations, particularly these which might be critical about playing legal guidelines or simply haven’t discovered cope with decentralized finance (DeFi), are additionally throwing a authorized wrench within the works.
The U.S., particularly, has been main the cost. The Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC) determined it was time for Polymarket to make some regulatory modifications, they usually weren’t precisely mild about it.
Final week, the CFTC introduced a settlement with the corporate behind Polymarket. The Fee’s new chair, Rostin Behnam, reportedly instructed the Senate Agriculture Committee that the CFTC is able to be the “primary cop on the beat” in terms of digital asset markets.
In the meantime, international locations within the EU and elements of Asia, together with China, are preserving their distance, making it tougher for customers to entry Polymarket with out operating into a number of digital roadblocks.
The platform’s decentralized setup — constructed on Polygon, an Ethereum (ETH) layer-2 answer — solely provides to the headache. with out a government to take the blame, governments are struggling to place clear authorized boundaries round it, particularly in locations with tight on-line playing legal guidelines.
