Cryptocurrency War: After the FBI raided the founder of Polymarket, competitor Kalshi bought KOLs to influence public opinion?
Written by:Pirate Wires
Compiled by: Felix, PANews
On November 13, local time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided the New York residence of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan and seized his mobile phone and electronic devices. The FBI investigation focused on whether the Polymarket platform was used as an unlicensed product.exchangeoperations.
But after this incident, it seems that it is not just a question of compliance, but even involves commercial competition. According to the US media Pirate Wires, Kalshi funded KOLs to imply that its competitor Polymarket and CEO Shayne Coplan were engaged in illegal activities. The following is the details of the content.
According to people familiar with the matter and screenshots received, after the SoHo home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan was raided at 6 a.m. on November 13, Polymarket competitor Kalshi paid influencers on social media to spread news of the raid and promote the claim that Shayne and Polymarket were engaged in illegal activities.
Other screenshots provided by sources appear to show that influencers who posted negative content about Shayne and Polymarket discussed their paid work with Kalshi after the raid. One source said that just days after the raid, a third party associated with Kalshi offered him $3,500 to write an “offensive article” about Polymarket.
In a chat screenshot (see below), Kalshi's staff asked former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown, who has 2.2 million X followers, to release specific information about the raid.
Keaton Inglis, a member of Kalshi’s growth team, asked Antonio Brown in the screenshot: “Hey Antonio Brown, are you going to comment on this with something like ‘this nigga seems guilty’?” He seemed to be referring to a post by CJ Pearson that implied Shayne was corrupt (archive link). Keaton Inglis’ colleague, Kalshi’s chief of staff Brendan Beckhardt, added: “Let’s do this.”
On November 15, Antonio Brown quoted CJ Pearson's tweet (archive link) and wrote "This nigga seems guilty..."
That same day, a third-party company associated with Kalshi offered Gateway Pundit reporter Elijah Schaffer (772,000 followers) $3,500 to write a “hot article” promoting the idea that Polymarket and Shayne were involved in criminal activity. Elijah Schaffer told Pirate Wires in a phone call that he turned down the offer.
Other screenshots show that in the days after the FBI raid on Shayne's apartment, several influencers pushed anti-Polymarket rhetoric and discussed their paid partnership with Kalshi.
One of the screenshots showed a representative from Clown World, which has 2.8 million followers, discussing a paid partnership with Kalshi. On November 14, the day after the raid, the account posted (Archive Link): "SBF lookalike raided by FBI for illegal betting scheme." He was referring to Shayne. Clown World has posted other Kalshi-related content several times since the election (Archive Links).
Another screenshot shows Miami-based influencer Arynne Wexler, who has more than 67,000 followers, discussing her "deal" with Kalshi in late October. On November 14, Arynne Wexler posted a video about the raid (Archive Link), noting that trading on Polymarket is illegal in the United States and that “Kalshi has a license to operate in the United States,” and encouraged her followers to “check the platforms you use to make sure they are legal in the United States.” Like Clown World, Arynne Wexler also posted other Kalshi-related content before the election (Archive Link).
If true, the allegations would reveal a brutal behind-the-scenes battle between the two companies for dominance of the U.S. prediction market, with Kalshi paying large social media accounts to incite a covert PR campaign in his name without clearly disclosing the obvious inherent conflict of interest.
According to Bloomberg, the raid on Shayne's apartment was related to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. In a 2022 settlement with the CFTC, Polymarket was banned from accepting trades from U.S. users without first obtaining approval from the agency to become a designatedcontractPolymarket currently geo-blocks U.S. visitors who attempt to create accounts; it is unclear whether the DOJ investigation involves users circumventing geo-blocking.
Kalshi received approval from the CFTC to become a DCM in 2020.Xiaobai NavigationIts platform was launched in 2021 and offers a variety of non-political activitiescontractIn 2023, the CFTC rejected Kalshi’s request to allow users to trade Congressional-controlledcontractThe company sued the agency over the decision, and in September 2024 a district court ruled in favor of Kalshi. Last October, a circuit court denied the CFTC’s emergency stay of the ruling, effectively allowing Kalshi to offer contracts for events on control of Congress and other political topics.
Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan declined to comment for this story. Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour, Keaton Inglis, Antonio Brown, Arynne Wexler and Clown World did not respond to requests for comment.
The article comes from the Internet:Cryptocurrency War: After the FBI raided the founder of Polymarket, competitor Kalshi bought KOLs to influence public opinion?
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