Argentine Court Orders Nationwide Block of Polymarket

Judge Susana Parada of Buenos Aires has ordered the prediction market platform Polymarket blocked throughout Argentina. Google and Apple have been directed to remove the service's mobile application from their respective app stores, according to local media reports.

Why This Matters

Argentina has joined a growing list of countries restricting access to the world's largest prediction market platform. Portugal, the Netherlands, Germany, and Romania have already imposed similar limitations. The mounting regulatory pressure across multiple jurisdictions raises serious questions about Polymarket's global accessibility and the future of prediction markets as a whole.

Grounds for the Ban

The capital's gambling regulator initiated the court request. An investigation revealed that Polymarket lacks a license to operate in the jurisdiction. Prosecutors classified the platform as a "hidden online betting system."

Key regulatory concerns included:

• No identity or age verification — accounts could be created within minutes, giving minors unrestricted access to contracts;
• Cryptocurrency-based transactions that circumvented regulatory oversight mandated for the gambling sector.

Argentina's national communications regulator ENACOM was instructed to direct internet service providers to block the Polymarket website across the entire country.

Insider Trading Suspicions

Authorities flagged suspicious activity surrounding markets tied to Argentine inflation figures. Ahead of the official February inflation report, analyst forecasts ranged between 2.6% and 2.8%. Yet just 20 minutes before publication, Polymarket odds sharply shifted toward 2.9%, with the corresponding contract volume surging to $91,000.

Observers suggested the precise and well-timed price movement could indicate a leak of insider information — someone may have obtained the actual data before the official release and used it to trade on the platform.

A Global Crackdown on Prediction Markets

The Argentine ruling fits into a broader worldwide trend. Access to Polymarket has already been restricted in several European nations — Portugal, the Netherlands, Germany, and Romania. Regulators in those countries similarly classified the platform's operations as unlicensed gambling activity.

Meanwhile, reports from November 2025 indicated that Polymarket had resumed operations in the United States, though only in beta mode. Striking a balance between the accessibility of prediction markets and compliance with national regulatory frameworks remains one of the industry's most pressing challenges.