The predictive market platform that allows users to bet on real-world events has blamed the breach on a compromised third-party provider<\/p>\n
Hackers have swiped at least $2.6 million in user funds from predictive market platform Polymarket that allows people to wager on real-world events, including elections and military action. The company was forced to briefly pause trading on its international exchange, promising to reimburse all affected users.
\nIn an X post on Thursday, a Polymarket-related account said that the company had \u201cidentified & fixed an issue impacting our international platform.\u201d
\n\u201cWe have temporarily halted trading,\u201d the statement read, adding that the breach occurred after \u201cone of our 3rd party providers was compromised.\u201d
\nThe hack only affected Polymarket\u2019s flagship platform, although Polymarket US, which operates independently as a federally regulated financial exchange, was spared.\u00a0
\nSeveral media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, reported that the third-party provider that Polymarket referred to was DebugBear – a UK-based performance-monitoring platform.
\nDebugBear wrote on X on Thursday afternoon that it was \u201caware of a security incident,\u201d advising clients using its RUM product to \u201cremove the embed code from your website.\u201d
\nAccording to Business Today, citing blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps, as many as 700 Polymarket accounts were affected, with users reporting unauthorized withdrawals and sudden balance liquidations.
\nThe breach coincided with a major cyberattack at Binance, the world\u2019s largest cryptocurrency exchange, that saw intruders steal an estimated $6.3 billion.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
World\u2019s largest crypto exchange hit by cyberattack<\/p>\n
As for Polymarket, it suffered another breach as recently as June, with hackers getting their hands on more than $2 million.
\nIn recent years, Polymarket, along with its major rival, Kalshi, have been at the center of multiple scandals, involving insider trading by American officials and military personnel, with several US states also accusing them of sidestepping gambling laws.
\nLast week, the Associated Press reported that US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had issued a directive specifically warning service members against using classified material to bet on prediction markets.
\nEarlier this year, US Army Green Beret Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke was arrested and charged with illegally profiting from advance knowledge of the January operation to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
\nProsecutors alleged that the defendant had placed more than $32,500 in Polymarket bets, mostly on January 2, hours before the US attack on Caracas. Van Dyke allegedly raked in $400,000 by betting on Maduro\u2019s removal from power.
\nThe man pleaded not guilty.
\nNewly created Polymarket accounts also placed suspiciously timed bets shortly before US President Donald Trump announced an April US-Iran ceasefire, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits. The White House subsequently warned staff against trading on confidential information.
\nIn late August, Trump\u2019s long-time teleprompter operator, Gabriel Perez, was ordered to pay $65,000 to settle a case related to his \u201cunlawful\u201d prediction-market trading about the president\u2019s speeches.
\nThe White House aide was also required to give up $107,000 in ill-gotten profits from his wagers on Kalshi, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said at the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The predictive market platform that allows users to bet on real-world events has blamed the breach on a compromised third-party provider Hackers have swiped at least $2.6 million in user…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t