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Polymarket is paying US-based social media influencers to promote election betting on its site — despite the fact that federal regulators have banned Americans from wagering on the platform, according to a report.
Armand Saramout, Polymarket’s senior director of growth, sent overtures to popular social media influencers in September to sound them out about a sponsorship deal with the site, according to Bloomberg News.
Several influencers have posted content sponsored by Polymarket on their Instagram pages in recent weeks using the hashtag #PMPartner and #PolymarketPartner.
Eric Pan, an influencer who dispenses personal finance advice, has also apparently signed a deal with Polymarket based on his posts.
“We’ve reached out to influencers on both sides of the aisle to promote our data and drive traffic and eyeballs to polymarket.com, where 99% of visitors consume news and never place a trade,” a Polymarket spokesperson told Bloomberg News.
But the spokesperson denied that the company’s intent was to boost trading from visitors to the site who are based in the US.
Last month, Polymarket launched an investigation into the identity of mysterious bettors who wagered $30 million on a victory by former President Donald Trump in Tuesday’s election.
The company brought in outside experts to analyze four wagers that were placed in different account totaling $30 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.
A company spokesperson told Bloomberg News that the accounts were owned by one individual. The investigation determined that the person was not trying to manipulate the market.
As of noon on Tuesday, Polymarket gave Trump a 60.1% chance of winning the election. His Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, had a 39.9% chance of winning.
Polymarket is a decentralized prediction market platform that allows users to bet on outcomes of events in sports, entertainment or politics.
Users deposit a digital stablecoin that is pegged to the US dollar through the web site’s network and trade shares that represent the likelihood of specific outcomes.
US regulators have tried to either limit or shut down the site, which is based offshore, though users are still able to access Polymarket through virtual private networks (VPNs).
Polymarket users can also wager on the outcome of swing state races as well as which candidate will win the popular vote.
Unlike Polymarket, Kalshi, its Soho-based competitor, is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which has designated the site to trade swaps, futures and options.
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