A prediction market platform that prides itself on 'on-chain transparency' has built its growth engine on fake trading videos that cannot be verified on-chain. An investigation by The Wall Street Journal published on June 21 reveals that Polymarket systematically hired dozens of social media creators to film fake trading videos on imitation websites that closely resemble the official platform, creating an illusion of easy profits.
Fake Websites, Fake Videos: The Deception Chain Behind 1,105 Clips
Polymarket and its marketing contractor Virality set up look-alike websites—one using the domain 'poiymarket.com' (replacing lowercase 'l' with uppercase 'I')—for creators to simulate trades and record videos. Journalists reviewed 1,105 videos posted by 10 creators between December 2025 and mid-May 2026. Approximately 70% showed betting scenes, but none of the roughly $1.9 million in displayed wagers were real. About 10% of the videos went further: creators used outdated news clips or fabricated screenshots to suggest they had won bets.
A notable example is a January video by college student George Makihara, who claimed he bet $1,000 on 'Trump saying McDonald's publicly this month' and won $100,000. However, the footage of Trump uttering the word was two months old. Checking actual on-chain data, The Wall Street Journal found that more than 50 accounts had bet on the same event that month and all lost. Across 118 videos, creators displayed nearly $900,000 in fake profits; if the same bets had been placed on the real platform, actual losses would have exceeded $166,000.
Targeting U.S. Users: Violating the CFTC Ban
Since settling with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in 2022, Polymarket has been prohibited from offering services to U.S. users. While users can bypass restrictions via VPN, the platform itself is not allowed to market to American audiences. Yet internal guidance documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal show that Virality instructed its 'clipper' network—low-paid social media users who repost content—to only pay them when at least 60% of viewers were from the U.S. In one internal chat, the contractor even asked clippers to avoid including 'Polymarket' or 'poly' in their account names. The videos garnered over 140 million views on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. Creators earned between $2,000 and $3,000 per month, and most did not disclose their paid partnership with Polymarket.
Multi-Million Dollar Deal with Influencer: Insider Trading Promotion and Contradictory Statements
Polymarket signed a multi-million dollar marketing contract with 25-year-old influencer Adin Ross. Ross spent about half an hour per week during his streams browsing Polymarket and commenting on potential trading opportunities. The Journal found that at least five of his promoted videos discussed how to use inside information to trade, such as capitalizing on the release date of Drake's new album. More broadly, Polymarket paid to promote at least 19 videos discussing insider trading opportunities. This sharply contrasts with CEO Shayne Coplan's prior characterization of insider trading allegations as 'outrageous and unfounded.' Ross himself now faces a class action lawsuit, including federal RICO claims, for allegedly deceptive promotion on the gambling platform Stake.us.
Escalating Regulatory and Legal Pressure: Two Marketing Scandals in One Month
On June 5, Politico reported that Polymarket Chief Marketing Officer Matthew Modabber transferred over $2.5 million via his personal PayPal account to more than 800 creators and influencers between January 2025 and February 2026, with at least $350,000 going to content creators who directly promoted Polymarket—without disclosing the paid relationship. Meanwhile, in May, the U.S. Department of Justice charged a Google software engineer with using company confidential information to profit about $1.2 million on Polymarket, marking the first federal criminal case of insider trading on a prediction market. In April, the DOJ also charged a U.S. Army sergeant with using classified intelligence to profit over $400,000 on Polymarket-related contracts. On June 21, on-chain tracking firm Lookonchain reported that three Polymarket wallets collectively profited $24.25 million from World Cup prediction markets, funneling funds through the same Binance deposit address, suggesting insider trading.
Polymarket stated it is 'committed to maintaining accurate, fair, and transparent markets' and will conduct a comprehensive audit of active promotional content. However, competitor Smarkets CEO Jason Trost commented: 'The core of an exchange is that the order book is real and anyone can audit it. Regulated exchanges keep settlement records and are accountable to the CFTC for this very reason.'