Polymarket has published a new set of market integrity rules outlining prohibited trading practices across both its international DeFi platform and its Commodity Futures Trading Commission-regulated U.S. exchange, as the company faces ongoing scrutiny over how prediction markets handle sensitive information and potential manipulation.
The updated guidelines explicitly prohibit insider trading, including acting on confidential or nonpublic information, as well as manipulation tactics including spoofing, wash trading, front-running, and self-dealing. The rules also bar users from participating in markets where they may have the ability to directly influence an event’s outcome.
The company said the changes are intended to clarify expectations for participants and build on existing compliance and surveillance systems already in place across its platforms.
“Markets thrive on clarity,” Polymarket Chief Legal Officer Neal Kumar said in the announcement. “These rule enhancements make our expectations abundantly clear for every participant across both platforms and highlight the compliance infrastructure we have already built. As Polymarket continues to scale, we will build on our foundation with clear communication to Polymarket’s users to ensure our markets do what they do best — surface truth.”
New integrity pages clarify rules and enforcement
Alongside the rule updates, Polymarket says it is launching new public-facing market integrity pages for both its international platform and U.S. exchange, giving users a clearer view into how the company defines and detects prohibited behavior.
The pages outline categories of misconduct in greater detail, including insider trading, market manipulation, and misuse of information, which appear in the DeFi platform’s Terms of Use and the Polymarket US rulebook. They also outline how rules apply across different types of activity, with violations subject to enforcement under existing platform terms and exchange rules, including potential account suspensions, trading restrictions, and trade cancellations.
The framework is supported by what the company described as a multi-layered surveillance system designed to monitor trading patterns, identify irregular behavior, and flag potential violations in real time. Polymarket said the updated structure also expands its reporting mechanisms, allowing users to submit complaints or flag suspicious trades directly through the platform, feeding into internal review processes tied to both market activity and resolution outcomes.
The rules apply broadly across all participants, including traders, market creators, and liquidity providers, and extend beyond trade execution to include conduct related to market formation and settlement. By formalizing these standards in a more visible and centralized format, the company is positioning its integrity framework as a core component of platform operations.
Polymarket expands surveillance through Palantir, TWG AI
The rule changes build on Polymarket’s broader push to strengthen oversight, including a recently announced partnership with Palantir Technologies and TWG AI aimed at strengthening monitoring systems across the platforms.
While that initiative has been closely tied to sports-related markets, the company’s latest integrity framework announcement shows it applies more broadly, covering all market activity across both its offshore and U.S. venues.
“Our partnership sets a new standard for prediction markets, and we are excited to be at the center of that transformation,” Palantir co-founder and CEO Alex Karp said in the news release announcing the rule enhancements. “Together, we are strengthening the security and integrity of the platform — ensuring that as the sports prediction market continues to expand, Polymarket and TWG AI are positioned to lead with the confidence and competitiveness needed to scale.”
Drew Cukor, global head of AI at TWG AI, framed the effort as foundational to how prediction markets evolve as they scale.
“Market integrity isn’t a feature you bolt on after the fact — it has to be engineered into the foundation of how an exchange operates,” Cukor said. “Our approach is building the surveillance models, identity screening, and detection frameworks from the ground up, designed specifically for the unique risk profile of sports prediction markets.”
Scrutiny intensifies around high-risk event markets, insider trading
The timing of Polymarket’s announcement comes as scrutiny around its international platform has intensified, particularly over markets tied to war, political instability, and other high-stakes real-world events where insider information may exist.
Recent incidents have raised concerns about whether traders with access to nonpublic information can profit from these markets. In one widely cited case, users attempted to pressure and threaten a journalist to alter reporting tied to a Polymarket contract on an Iranian missile strike, highlighting how unfolding events can become entangled with active wagers.
Other controversial markets have included contracts tied to military actions and other geopolitical developments, where suspicious trading activity has prompted questions about whether participants may be acting on privileged information.
Federal lawmakers have begun to take notice, warning that markets tied to war, government actions, and sensitive geopolitical outcomes could create incentives for insider trading or attempts to influence events, with some proposals seeking to restrict or ban these types of contracts altogether.
Offshore divide sharpens competition between platforms
A key factor in those concerns is the divide between regulated and offshore platforms.
Polymarket’s international venue, which is not overseen by the CFTC, is able to offer a broader range of contracts than U.S.-regulated exchanges, including markets tied to conflict, leadership changes, and other sensitive developments.
Rival platform Kalshi has leaned into that distinction, frequently responding to criticism of controversial contracts by emphasizing that such markets are offered on unregulated platforms, a nod in the direction of Polymarket’s global venue.
At the same time, Kalshi has stepped up its own market integrity efforts, highlighting surveillance, enforcement, and transparency measures as key differentiators. Axios reported Monday that Kalshi plans to preemptively block athletes, coaches, and sports officials from trading on markets tied to their teams or leagues, and to prevent political candidates from trading on markets related to their own campaigns, using identity screening and third-party compliance partnerships, including Integrity Compliance 360, to restrict access before trades occur.
Polymarket’s decision to formalize and publicly highlight its integrity rules across both platforms signals an effort to address growing concerns about insider trading and market manipulation, and to close the gap with Kalshi as competition between regulated and offshore platforms starts to center on market integrity.
