Polymarket pushes mandatory KYC amid sanctions evasion…

Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market by volume, is rolling out mandatory identity verification (KYC) for traders as the platform confronts mounting regulatory, sanctions, and legal exposure. The move signals a meaningful shift for a platform that built its user base on relatively frictionless access.

The pressure is real: some users are still reaching restricted markets through automated trading bots, and gray-area activity from Russian-based accounts has been flagged in the report. Separately, certain developers are reportedly routing trading flow through Telegram-based tools — the kind of workaround that regulators treat as a red flag regardless of the underlying platform's intent.

For prediction markets broadly, Polymarket's KYC push sets a precedent.