UK urged to act as Polymarket takes bets on whether HSBC and Lloyds will fail
Source: The Guardian ·
Revelation comes amid mounting concern over online prediction market’s effects on integrity of financial systemUK authorities are being urged to intervene after it emerged that the online prediction market Polymarket has been taking thousands of dollars worth of bets over whether HSBC and Lloyds will fail.Polymarket – the US-owned company which holds bets on anything from football matches, to…
From the source
UK authorities are being urged to intervene after it emerged that the online prediction market Polymarket has been taking thousands of dollars worth of bets over whether HSBC and Lloyds will fail. Polymarket – the US-owned company which holds bets on anything from football matches, to the existence of aliens, to when a bomb drops on a city – has allowed users to take $77,507 (£58,530) worth of positions on whether the world’s biggest banks will go under by the end of this year. That includes lenders ranging from JP Morgan to BNP Paribas, as well as two of the largest on UK high streets: HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group. While residents from UK, US, Canada and EU are banned from betting on Polymarket’s offshore platform, it leaves punters from across roughly 150 countries in a position to monetarily benefit from events that would create huge financial instability and threaten the health of entire economies. In a sign that authorities are taking the issue seriously, the UK’s Financial…