Original | Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )

Author｜jk

Recent media reports suggest that prediction market platform Polymarket hinted at a coin issuance plan in documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A review of the SEC's public database confirms this speculation.

The SEC's EDGAR public database confirms that Blockratize Inc., the operating entity of Polymarket, did indeed submit a Form D financing disclosure document around this time. While the timing is discrepant (the filing date is actually August 1st), the media's speculation is well-founded, and the document does include clauses that are often viewed in the crypto industry as signals of a future token offering.

For this prediction market giant, which has a valuation of $1 billion and has undergone a transformation from a regulatory gray area to full compliance, the emergence of coin issuance rumors is not surprising. It may mark that Polymarket is ready to start a new chapter in its development.

"Secret Code" in Form D Files

According to the SEC EDGAR database, Blockratize Inc., the operating entity of Polymarket, filed a Form D document on August 1, 2025, disclosing its latest round of financing. The document's mention of "other warrants" or "other rights to acquire another security" has drawn attention.

In the cryptocurrency industry, such phrases are often seen as signals of future coin issuance. Because the legal status of tokens in the United States remains unclear, companies are often unable to directly mention token issuance plans in SEC filings. Therefore, they use phrases like "warrants" to reserve the right to receive tokens in the future. This has become a common practice in traditional equity financing in the crypto industry.

The document shows that the total amount of this financing is US$257.5 million , US$135.4 million has been sold, and about US$122 million remains. A total of 23 investors participated.

From Exit to Return: How Polymarket Secures its Lead in the Compliant Prediction Market

From regulatory vacuum to iron fist crackdown

To understand Polymarket's current situation, it's helpful to review its tumultuous history. Founded in 2020 by Shayne Coplan, the company began as a decentralized, blockchain-based prediction market. Users used the stablecoin USDC to bet on a wide range of real-world events, from political elections to sporting events.

The platform's technical architecture is quite ingenious. It was built on Ethereum smart contracts and later migrated to the Polygon network for improved scalability. Users simply connect to a Web 3 wallet to participate in transactions, with no identity verification required, making the entire process completely decentralized. This design allowed Polymarket to circumvent traditional financial regulations in its early days, as it does not involve fiat currency transactions and has no centralized fund custody.

In October 2020, Polymarket secured $4 million in seed funding led by Polychain Capital. As the platform's influence grew, it subsequently secured a $25 million Series A round led by General Catalyst, and a $45 million Series B in 2024 led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, with participation from Vitalik Buterin. By mid-2025, Polymarket's valuation had reached approximately $1 billion.

In its early days, Polymarket's terms of service prohibited US residents from using the platform, but enforcement was quite lax in practice. Many of its most popular markets centered around US-related topics, such as the presidential election results and Federal Reserve policy, and a significant portion of its users were believed to be from the US. Within 18 months, the platform launched over 900 markets, demonstrating strong growth.

A major blow from the CFTC

In mid-2021, Polymarket's high profile and US-centric market began to attract regulatory attention. On January 3, 2022, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) initiated an enforcement action against Polymarket, alleging that it offered unregistered binary options contracts to U.S. customers without obtaining proper licensing.

The CFTC determined that each of Polymarket's "yes/no" event markets effectively constituted a binary option swap , which, under the Commodity Exchange Act, can only be offered on a registered exchange or a swap execution facility. Polymarket had neither obtained a designated contract market license nor applied for swap execution facility status.

The two parties ultimately reached a settlement, with Polymarket agreeing to pay a $1.4 million civil penalty, while also promising to ban US users from accessing the platform and cease offering non-compliant event contracts. Vincent McGonagle, Acting Director of the CFTC's Division of Enforcement, emphasized in a statement: "Regardless of the technology used, including in the so-called decentralized finance sector, all derivatives markets must operate within the law."

Survival abroad and continued pressure

Following the settlement, Polymarket implemented geo-blocking measures, preventing US users from accessing the platform. However, the platform continued to serve users in other regions of the world and experienced significant growth in 2023 and 2024. To improve the user experience, Polymarket also introduced instant fiat-to-crypto conversions through MoonPay and Stripe.

During the 2024 US presidential election, Polymarket's trading volume surged. Despite official bans on US users, reports indicate some US users continued to access the site through VPNs and other methods, a fact that became an open secret within the community. To strengthen compliance, Polymarket began implementing identity verification for large traders in late 2024 to prevent circumvention of geo-blocking.

However, regulatory pressure hasn't eased. In May 2024, the CFTC even proposed new rules that would completely ban event contracts based on US election results , demonstrating ongoing regulatory concerns about the political prediction market. More seriously, in November 2024, just after the US election, the FBI raided CEO Shayne Coplan's home and seized Coplan's electronic devices as part of a joint CFTC and Department of Justice investigation into whether Polymarket violated a 2022 settlement agreement.

2025, a magnificent turnaround

2025 marked a turning point in Polymarket's fate. After months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, the CFTC and the Department of Justice dropped their investigation into Polymarket in mid-July without filing further charges. This outcome coincided with a transition in the US government and a change in regulatory leadership.

A few days later, Polymarket announced a blockbuster deal: the $112 million acquisition of QCX LLC and its affiliated clearinghouse, QC Clearing LLC. QCX, a relatively unknown entity, had applied for a designated contract market license as early as 2022 and received CFTC approval in July 2025. By acquiring QCX (now rebranded "Polymarket US"), Polymarket effectively acquired full CFTC exchange and clearing licenses.

“Now, with the acquisition of QCEX, we are laying the foundation to bring Polymarket home – re-entering the U.S. market with a fully regulated and compliant platform, enabling Americans to trade their views,” Coplan announced in the acquisition press release.

This move paves the way for Polymarket to relaunch in the United States under CFTC oversight. In early September, the CFTC granted Polymarket's newly acquired exchange unit no-action relief, exempting it from certain swap reporting and recordkeeping requirements that would otherwise apply to event contracts. This no-action letter effectively gave Polymarket the green light to legally offer prediction markets in the United States, as long as it operated within regulatory boundaries.

Combined with the Designated Contract Market and Designated Clearing Organization licenses obtained through QCX, Polymarket can now list event-based binary options on a regulated venue. The platform anticipates implementing full Know Your Customer/AML compliance requirements for US users and adhering to CFTC rules regarding product oversight and reporting.

Notably, U.S. regulators appear more open to such markets in 2025 than they were a few years ago. The CFTC’s acting chairman even commented that the agency was mired in a “quagmire of legal uncertainty” in pursuing prediction market cases, hinting at a more relaxed stance.

The Realistic Basis of the Coin Issuance Rumors

Against this backdrop, rumors of a potential Polymarket token issuance have gained even stronger momentum. The "other warrants" reference in the Form D filing, combined with the company's current stage of development and the improving regulatory environment, makes the token issuance plan quite feasible.

Of course, this speculation is still based on industry practice and indirect evidence, rather than official confirmation. However, considering that Polymarket has transformed from a DeFi project operating on the fringes of regulation to a fully regulated US derivatives exchange, launching a native token is both consistent with its on-chain industry DNA and will help further consolidate its leading position in the prediction market space.

From its wild growth in a regulatory vacuum in 2020, to its encounter with the CFTC in 2022, and finally its acquisition and regulatory compliance in 2025, Polymarket's trajectory epitomizes the cryptocurrency industry's regulatory compliance journey. Now, with the regulatory landscape gradually becoming clearer and the company's own compliance systems improving, this prediction market giant may be poised to embark on a new chapter in its development.