Polymarket recorded its strongest month yet in October, pulling nearly half a million active traders and more than $3bn in volume.
The record came as regulators in at least eight countries, from Romania to Singapore, moved to blacklist or block access to the onchain prediction market. On 23 Oct., Bloomberg reported that the platform is attracting fresh investment at multi-billion-dollar valuations.
Trading surges to new highs
Data compiled by The Block and TradingView shows 477,850 active traders in October, up 93.7% from September, and monthly trading volume climbing to $3.02bn.
Users launched 38,270 new markets, nearly triple August’s total. Analysts linked the spike to speculation around a forthcoming POLY token and heightened interest in political event markets ahead of the 2025 election cycle.
Regulators push back
Romania’s National Office for Gambling (ONJN) ordered ISPs to block Polymarket in late October for offering ‘unlicensed gambling services,’ saying the move was ‘not about the technology, but about the law.’
The platform is now blacklisted or geo-blocked in France, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, Singapore, and Italy, among others.
Taiwan has prosecuted users for election betting, and Thailand has announced plans to follow Singapore’s lead. Including voluntary geoblocks in the US, Polymarket is now restricted in about 11 countries.
Growing faster than regulators can react
To its supporters, Polymarket is an ‘information market’ that rewards accuracy through trading. To many regulators, it’s gambling with crypto lipstick.
Either way, the platform’s growth demonstrates how rapidly users are migrating to decentralized venues that blur the lines between markets and wagers.
As October’s numbers prove, bans have yet to dent curiosity. Prediction markets are thriving in the same grey zone where crypto once grew up, expanding faster than the law can keep up.
