The South Korean Media and Communications Commission ordered the blocking of access to the Polymarket blockchain prediction platform, deeming the crypto platform to be a medium for illegal gambling. According to officials, the American platform organizes gambling and disseminates information that contributes to the emergence of new gambling establishments, which is explicitly prohibited by the country’s legislation. The regulator emphasized that the “winner‑takes‑all” operating model, under which users can win or lose money depending on the outcomes of events, encourages speculative gaming behavior. As arguments for the block, the commission cited the establishment of trading rules, the provision of systems for depositing and withdrawing funds in cryptocurrency, the conduct of settlements, and the charging of transaction fees – all these operations require a special license, which Polymarket does not have.

The platform attempted to challenge the regulator’s decision, stating that it had stopped providing services in Korean, does not support payments in South Korean won, and operates through non‑custodial transactions and smart contracts, rather than by directly managing clients’ funds. However, the commission rejected all these arguments, declaring that technical features such as decentralization, trading interfaces, and order books do not exempt the service from complying with the legislation of the Republic of Korea. As of today, Polymarket is blocked in more than thirty‑five countries around the world, usually due to the lack of a license to conduct gambling activities. In some states, for example in Portugal, the block was issued due to cases of insider trading on the platform.

The blocking of Polymarket in South Korea is taking place against the backdrop of a sharp decline in the revenues of local crypto platforms. The revenue of Dunamu, the parent company of the country’s largest crypto exchange Upbit, decreased by 49.1% in the first half of the year compared to the previous year, amounting to 408.1 billion won, or about 289 million dollars. Another major exchange, Bithumb, also demonstrated a similar negative trend: its operating revenue for the first half of the year fell by 48.7%, and the net loss amounted to 108.7 billion won, compared to a net profit a year earlier.