BlockBeats News, January 7th, according to MarketWatch, the prediction market Polymarket has refused to pay out on bets related to “U.S. Will Invade Venezuela,” stating that the weekend events did not constitute an “invasion,” leading to strong customer dissatisfaction. According to the Polymarket website, the result of “U.S. invading Venezuela before December 31” is currently determined to be false, with a prediction volume of $2.76 million.
An anonymous user posted on the Polymarket website questioning, “What exactly counts as an invasion?” and referred to the company as “Polyscam.” Another user said, “Polymarket has descended into outright arbitrary rulings. Words can be redefined at will, detached from any recognized meaning, and facts can be directly ignored. A military invasion, the kidnapping of a head of state, and the takeover of a country are not considered an invasion, which is clearly absurd.” Someone else wrote, “Is this a joke?” Another asked, “So this doesn’t count as an invasion just because it was swift and had a low death toll?” (The New York Times cited a Venezuelan official saying the death toll from this raid was 80.)
Polymarket explained on its website that “the market refers to a U.S. military action aimed at establishing control, as Trump stated the U.S. would ‘run’ Venezuela when mentioning negotiations with the Venezuelan government, which in itself is not enough to classify the ‘raid and extraction’ operation carried out to capture Maduro as an invasion.”
MarketWatch sought an explanation from Polymarket but did not receive a response. The reporter also emailed its 28-year-old crypto billionaire founder and CEO Shayne Coplan directly, likewise without a reply.
