Five senators and three representatives of the United States House renewed their calls for the commodities regulator to ban betting on the 2024 presidential election. They claim that the betting market “could influence and interfere in the elections and, even more, erode public trust in the democracy”.
This statement was made in a letter last Monday (05) and sent to the president of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CNFC), Rostin Benham.
Betting on decentralized platforms
In the letter, the lawmakers highlight that “allowing billionaires to make extraordinary bets while simultaneously contributing to a specific candidate or party, and political insiders to bet on elections using non-public information, will further degrade public confidence in the electoral process.”
The letter was signed by the senators:
- Jeff Merkley
- Richard Blumenthal
- Chris Van Hollen
- Elizabeth Warren
- Sheldon Whitehouse
Além dos representantes:
- Jamie Raskin
- John Sarbanes
- Eleanor Holmes Norton
But the interesting thing is that all eight legislators are members of the Democratic Party. Concern about election betting has intensified with the rise in popularity of decentralized prediction platforms such as Polymarket.
Polymarket saw more than $500 million in bets on the “2024 Presidential Election Winner” market and accumulated $319.7 million in bets on the “2024 Democratic Candidate” market. Bettors from all over the world can place bets on these markets.
Polymarket, however, faced regulatory problems. In January 2022, the platform received a $1.4 million fine from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for offering more than 900 event-based binary contracts without obtaining registration.
Current scenario
But with the US presidential election just three months away, betting remains in full swing. Most cryptocurrency betting platforms have Republican candidate Donald Trump as their favorite.
However, Kamala Harris has been closing that gap in recent weeks. But there has still been no quote after the candidate nominated Tim Walz as her vice-president. Tim does not have a clear position on crypto assets and this could be good for Donald Trump.
This situation highlights a fundamental conflict between the desire to regulate betting to protect democratic integrity and the growing interest in decentralized prediction markets.
But with the advancement of technology and the popularization of cryptocurrencies, the debate about betting on elections only tends to intensify. The final say, however, will lie with regulators and legislators, who must balance innovation and protection of democratic values.
