A Polymarket account that earned nearly $400,000 from a controversial and well-timed bet on the capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is no longer available on the platform.
The Polymarket page for the account “0x31a56e,” which had staked nearly $32,000 to oust Maduro from president just before news of his capture by U.S. military and law enforcement broke, now returns a dead link, Cointelegraph has confirmed.
As of 1:00 pm UTC on Thursday, an error appeared on the page that read, “Oops… we did not anticipate this”, while other users’ pages remained accessible.
The development comes amid growing concern in the crypto community over high-profile bets and unusual trading activity on prediction markets.
$437,000 in USDC withdrawn from account after win
According to data available on the Wayback Machine, the concerned Polymarket account had placed a series of related bets on Polymarket.
Along with bets on Maduro’s ouster, users also placed bets on US troops being in Venezuela by January 31, whether the US would “invade Venezuela” by January 31, and whether US President Donald Trump would “invoke war powers” against Venezuela by January 31.
The corresponding address of the account on the Polygon blockchain received approximately $436,700 in USDC (USDC) from the Polymarket CTF exchange at 1:41 pm UTC on January 3. A few hours later, $437,800 of USDC was moved from the address at 11:54 pm UTC.
Insider allegations hit prediction markets
Polymarket did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment on whether the account was intentionally deactivated, whether the issue was a platform glitch or if the user had deleted his profile. The company has not issued any public statement on this matter.
Polymarket’s privacy policy states that users can request that the platform delete or return all personal data, including copies and backups.
As mentioned, even beyond the crypto community, there are growing concerns over insider trading and transparency in prediction markets.
Some US lawmakers, including Representative Ritchie Torres, have supported legislation aimed at curbing insider trading on such platforms.
The news comes as a separate trader boasted a 100% win rate on his account on Polymarket betting on the US attacking Iran by the end of January, prompting scrutiny of insider activity among industry observers.
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