Singapore has banned Polymarket, a decentralized crypto prediction platform, due to strict gambling laws. Allowing users to create and bet on real-world events using cryptocurrency, it failed to obtain a license from the government to legally operate in the city-state.
Singapore’s Remote Gambling Act, since 2014, has only permitted certain state-approved betting activities: things like lotteries and sports gambling. Sites like Polymarket, operating outside the ambit of such regulation, are banned without hesitation. The government has now officially blocked access to the site, effective January 11.
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This is not the first time such regulatory hurdles have had to be faced by Polymarket. Recently, it settled with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the United States that had been clamping down on several unregulated DeFi platforms. CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam said that they were very much focused on digital asset platforms falling within the legal ambit.
Its struggles are not singular, however. China, along with several European and Asian countries, has come down hard on online gambling or crypto gaming platforms. Without centralized regulation, such sites sometimes find it tough to call the legal line in jurisdictions where strict controls are in place.
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As governments around the world continue to turn the screws on DeFi, sites like Polymarket are increasingly finding it tough to expand.
