PANAMA — Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan said the prediction market platform cooperated with authorities and would continue to police illicit activity on its marketplace following the criminal charging of an active-duty U.S. special forces soldier accused of insider trading. Gannon Ken Van Dyke was charged with using advance knowledge of a U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to make $440,000 through bets on Polymarket.

"Noise aside, the reality is we work proactively with all relevant authorities on any suspicious activity on our marketplace. We flagged this, referred it, and cooperated throughout the process. This happens constantly behind the scenes, despite what many are led to believe," Coplan said. He also said, "Having an edge is a good thing."

Chris Ehrman, an attorney who previously served as head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's whistleblower office, said the criminal charge against Van Dyke showed the Trump administration was taking insider trading on prediction markets more seriously than many people had believed. "The potential benefit of making these bets outweighs the cost of being incarcerated," he said.

Media outlets reported Van Dyke's alleged Maduro bet almost immediately after it occurred, before his identity was known. There was speculation in the press and on social media that insiders with access to classified information were capitalizing on their knowledge before Van Dyke's arrest.

Polymarket paid $1.4 million to settle with U.S. regulators four years ago. As part of a consent decree signed with Biden-era regulators, the company banned U.S. users from placing bets on its platform. One of Polymarket's entities is registered in Panama, and at one point 97% of its trades were handled there.

After heavy lobbying by the company, the Trump administration made allowing Polymarket to operate in the U.S. a priority in the president's second term. Donald Trump Jr.'s venture capital firm 1789 Capital has invested in the company.

Polymarket and U.S.-based Kalshi are the two dominant prediction markets, and most of the concern about the sector has focused on Polymarket. Michael Selig, a member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is seeking to assert the agency's jurisdiction over prediction markets as individual states push their own oversight, and is working to counter the notion that the commission is not committed to policing insider trading.