Key takeaways:
- Taiwanese prosecutors charged a man with using the crypto betting site Polymarket to wager on the nation’s June 13-2024 elections 2024.
- Chen also wagered $60 on the country’s Democratic Progressive Party gaining additional seats in the legislature.
Taiwanese prosecutors charged a man with using the crypto betting site Polymarket to wager on the nation’s June 13-2024 elections 2024.
According to reports, the Shilin District Prosecutor’s Office has charged a man going by the last name “Chen” with placing a wager of roughly 472 USD Coin on Polymarket on the victory of Ko Wen-je, the presidential candidate of the Taiwan People’s Party.
Chen also wagered $60 on the country’s Democratic Progressive Party gaining additional seats in the legislature.
According to the article, Chen broke the law by using the Internet to wager on election outcomes, as determined by the prosecutors’ investigation. The President and Vice President Election Recall Act of the nation forbids voters from wagering on election outcomes online.
Chen was awarded deferred prosecution after he acknowledged the crime. The person was permitted to postpone prosecution for a year and pay a fine of 30,000 yuan (about $4,000) because he had no prior convictions.
Prior to the election, Taiwan had been looking into how its citizens used the crypto-betting platform Polymarket. People were called in 2023 to appear before an investigation for their alleged participation in crypto wagering on election outcomes.
Election outcome crypto betting systems are illegal; hence, the general public has been cautioned not to use them. A local source states that offenders risk a jail term of up to six months or fines exceeding three thousand dollars.
In the crypto arena, Polymarket is a well-liked betting site many players utilize. In addition to offering wagers on trivial topics like the number of times Elon Musk would post on X or the temperature increase, the platform also lets users wager on important issues like the spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) decision.
Polymarket encountered regulatory obstacles in the United States in 2022. In a settlement with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the betting site agreed to pay fines totaling $1.4 million. Additionally, any markets that did not adhere to the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC standards had to be wound down.
Major investors were drawn to the platform, which flourished in spite of the obstacles. On May 14, Founders Fund, Peter Thiel’s venture capital firm, and Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, led a $70-million investment in the crypto betting platform.
