A new Polymarket account made over $500k betting on the U.S. strike against Iran

tim-tday

We thought betting markets would bring out our best predictions. Instead they’re exposing our inherent corruption.

squibonpig

Considering the scale of these events I feel like the insiders aren't really value betting appropriately (not to hurry them).

UncleMeat

These betting markets create a wild new perverse incentive to power. No need to get gifts from business interests. Just be in the room where it happens and extract piles of cash from betting markets. These markets claimed to be useful tools for discovering truth. I'm not sure what being able to maybe predict a military strike a bit earlier provides to society, but I do know that creating a system for near-unlimited wealth extraction for those with power is a very bad thing.

powerpcmac

"insider trading" for me "harmless betting" for thee

lokimedes

Why are most recent US foreign actions taken during the weekend, when the markets are closed?

MagicMoonlight

Just ban these services. There’s no legitimate purpose in betting on people being shot or blown up. And the only people who could win reliably, are the people doing the shooting.

docdeek

"That “brand new account” was created in October 2024 and has 88 predictions based upon your own evidence.” https://x.com/pearsonm103/status/2028176543264969145

dismalaf

It was pretty obvious it would happen this weekend, no corruption needed. The Iran protests happened, Iran massacred a bunch of protesters, Trump said "Help is on the way". Then US aircraft carriers started moving towards the middle east. Trump started negotiating with Iran, making demands Iran would never agree to. Trump gave his usual ultimatums, aircraft carriers finally got into position, Iran still being belligerent, and nearing the end of Trump's ultimatum... Like, all the signs were there. There's a strange consistency to Trump's erratic behaviour...

amelius

What was the payout rate?

IshKebab

I mean Trump did say he was going to. It's not an outlandish bet. Also this needs waaay more information before you can say if it is statistically significant. How much did they stand to lose? How many other people made similar bets? Etc. As it stands this is not a story.

TrackerFF

When I worked the military (not the US), we'd get some briefs from time to time on risks like espionage. They'd present us with cases, and It always surprise me just how little money people are willing to risk their lives and careers for. You'd think people that are willing at worst to become traitors, but at best break confidentiality laws - and face years in prison - would do it only for life-changing money. Nope, not even close. People have gone to prison for a fraction of $500k. If someone truly made this bet with inside information, they for sure broke laws. Not only did they do that, they could have jeopardized parts of the mission. No doubt in my mind, part of OSINT gathering for most intel agencies is to monitor these betting markets.

evan_

Has anyone analyzed the odds on particular days to see if there’s a chance that the timing was influenced by the amount to be made on the betting market and not the other way around?

bawolff

Maybe, but also the strike was super telegraphed. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that when USA pulls its embassy staff from israel, britian pulls its embassy staff from iran and USA creates the biggest build up of military hardware in the region in 20 years, that shit is about to go down. Especially when everyone notices the polymarket bets that win big but nobody notices the ones that fall on their face. There is huge survivorship bias in these sorts of analyses

etyhhgfff

It is unfortunate that Polymarket did not exist prior to 9/11. It would have been very telling.

alun

This may be an unpopular opinion, but calling it insider trading misses the entire point of what prediction markets are built for. The goal of a prediction market is to be able to forecast the future as accurately as possible. Restricting informed traders weakens the mechanism that makes them useful. Money signals how strongly someone believes something will happen.

rich_sasha

It's a funny balance between insiders and outsiders. I would say for events like this, it's not even clear where line is, in a way that is very clear for public companies. Clearly, a staffer in the MoD who knows what's going on and places a "bet" is bad. But is "private" information even well defined here? If a well funded HF asks 50 staffers "is Iran going to be invaded today", they all say "of course not, we're negotiating" but 3 look uncomfortable, is that MNPO? If a civilian provider, not sworn to secrecy, receives a large order indicative of some military action, then places bets, is that insider trading? My point is less that it's fine, and more that it was a good thing to keep them banned, until and unless we figure out a better way to regulate them. Public markets are different because the concept of "insider" information is so clearly defined and almost central to all information processing. Government business has other priorities than "how to we keep all gamblers chances equal".