A Polymarket account that yielded roughly $400,000 from a high-profile bet on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s ouster has become inaccessible on the prediction market platform. The account, identified by wallet address “0x31a56e,” placed about $32,000 on Maduro’s removal just before news of his capture by US forces, but its profile now returns an error message, while other user pages remain available. The development adds to ongoing scrutiny of prediction market activity and governance.
Blockchain data shows the associated wallet received about $436,700 in USDC shortly after the contract resolved and moved approximately $437,800 out hours later. It also placed linked wagers on related political and military outcomes in the same period, prompting observers to question whether the timing reflected access to nonpublic information or a coincidence. Polymarket has not publicly commented on whether the account was intentionally removed, the result of a technical issue, or deleted by the user under its privacy provisions.
The incident has drawn attention from lawmakers and market participants concerned about transparency and fairness in decentralized prediction markets. In response to similar episodes, US Representative Ritchie Torres has proposed legislation to curb insider trading in prediction markets, particularly for government officials or those with access to privileged information. Broader discussion has also emerged around regulatory frameworks and the need for clearer rules governing prediction market operations as on-chain trading interfaces with real-world events and regulatory expectations.
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