Trump takes the multi-gathering market out of the hook, ends detecting crypto betting platforms

If you dare bet, “Donald Trump ends investigation into Peter Thiel’s backed cryptocurrency platform” you can ask for your own bonus. According to Bloomberg, the Trump administration shut down two investigations into predicting markets to gather, just in time for the “crypto week” planned by Republican lawmakers.

The probes were initiated at the end of the Biden administration, including the Justice Department’s investigation into whether Polymarket allows U.S. bettors (which should be banned from betting) to use the platform. Another, led by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is also looking at bets placed near the 2024 presidential election and expanding to the Coinbase cycle, a crypto wallet that users can deposit or withdraw funds through Polymarket.

Now, the two are over, because Bloomberg, which is really a surprisingly surprising for Trump, considering Trump’s usual MO, so Polymarket is really a great place for him. First, most bets favor him more than most poll data (only a small percentage of bets reportedly held a large position in Trump and drove a small percentage of the bets in the market for him). Second, it is funded by Peter Thiel, a fingerprint in the current Trump administration and a long-time Trump supporter. Third, the company just hired David Urban, one of Trump’s advisers, as its first lobbyist, who just likes to be trade-oriented.

People around Trump also have little incentive to crack down on what Polymarket is trying to do. Brian Quintenz, an executive of Venture Capital A16Z, was elected as the Trump-led CFTC. He has previously served on the Kalshi board, another online forecasting market that wants to operate as unrestrained as possible. Backup backup signals on the multi-market are a loose regulatory environment for others running in that space. Oh, Donald Trump Jr. joined Kalshi’s board earlier this year in case you don’t have enough obvious connection.

So of course, the Trump administration decided to refuse to gather the heat of the market. The timing is perfect as House Republicans enter the planned “crypto week”, during which they plan to defend several industry-friendly policies that will abandon regulatory pressure on cryptocurrency operations. The Genius Act is the Genius Act, a controversial bill that will establish a weak standard for stablecoins that have been passed by the Senate.