Live data from Hacker News

FBI Raids Home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan

axios.com

171–180 of 241 posts

Re: FBI Raids Home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is 2024... how are people still credulously using DiscloseTV as a source? It's not about political inclination but rather that there's no reason to keep trusting a source that has lied repeatedly, sensationalized repeatedly, and seems to have a very loose relationship with being "journalism" rather than entertainment (bait).

Its 2024, Donald trump is president elect backed by "geniuses" of silicon valley

[flagged]

Re: FBI Raids Home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan

#172
post #28

> "This is obvious political retribution by the outgoing administration against Polymarket for providing a market that correctly called the 2024 presidential election," a Polymarket spokesperson tells Axios. When I saw that statement, from a company spokesperson, it was striking. Is it now respectable and advisable for a corporation to make official statements like this?

It’s a signal to the incoming President to protect them ASAP

Re: FBI Raids Home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan

#173
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nixon is the typical example of somebody pardon'd without an indictment. Like it would be wise to imply it could happen because it has! There are a other trivial examples. Confederate solders weren't indicted [1]. The Vietnam draft dodging pardons didn't even name people [2] [3]. Why they would do it? I mean to nullify the 5th amendment right. Maybe you want to prosecute a crime boss so you give somebody a pardon (or…

Sorry, those are your examples? Besides the Nixon disaster (stop hiding behind that) and confederate soldiers, any other examples?

You're arguing, with no evidence, for a claim with counterfactual precedent. (And look up preemptive pardons. Not been done. But you're lacking imagination if you can't see the utility of a pardon absent indictment or even accusation.)

Re: FBI Raids Home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan

#174

Obviously there are no details yet, but I suspect it's as simple as: - Polymarket is still very illegal in the US - Lol. We all know it's easy to get around that - If the CEO knew or was complicit in US citizens breaking laws, he could be in trouble. And if there was evidence he was encouraging it, he could be in big trouble

Can someone explain to me how this is? It's a company HQ'd in New York, but it's not allowed to do business in the very country it's HQ'd in? What am I missing?

US Cellular https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Cellular>, the US's fifth-largest mobile service provider, as of 2012 no longer operates in its headquarters city of Chicago. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-cellular-to-sell...>

Re: FBI Raids Home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan

#175
post #124

I still don't understand the Polymarket business model. Why take the legal risk of $3 billion in volume as an unlicensed commodities exchange if you're not even going to get paid for it? 1% would be $30,000,000!

If you predict exponential growth in the business, and fees in the short run will slow that growth, the utility of charging those fees is negative

Re: FBI Raids Home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan

#176
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The CEO or the company can only be in trouble if they are found guilty in court. That's not going to happen in the next two months, and Trump probably couldn't care less about this.

Trump not caring will mean the case proceeds. Why would they drop it?

The person who financed the vice president is a major investor in Polymarket.

Re: FBI Raids Home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m willing to let the government make their case, but let’s not pretend that a 6am raid from the feds is better than getting arrested.

A 6am raid from the feds is better than getting arrested. It is.

I’ll add to the other comment: bursting in and searching your house will tramautize your whole family.

Compare that to an arrest warrant where you willfully turn yourself in.

Re: FBI Raids Home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan

#179
post #126
post #124

I still don't understand the Polymarket business model. Why take the legal risk of $3 billion in volume as an unlicensed commodities exchange if you're not even going to get paid for it? 1% would be $30,000,000!

Idealism, probably. The objective of prediction markets is to improve the collective cognitive capacity of humankind (see Earthweb for a science-fiction exposition of this by way of a rather heavy-handed plot device). Certain people are willing to take great risks to achieve things like that, maybe including Coplan, who I'm not personally acquainted with. See Alex Tabarrok's triumphant take from before the raid: http…

> if a bettor in a prediction market wants to manipulate the market's prediction, it's likely to be extremely costly for them

About a decade ago I was told by someone on GOOG's anti-spam team that they had thought they'd finally made it too costly to spam, only to discover that political spammers just didn't care how much it cost.

Re: FBI Raids Home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan

#180
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> letting people learn what's happening in the world around us I think that phrasing is a bit too optimistic. Even in cases where the "prediction" cannot influence the outcome, the primary "learning about the world" involves the imputed opinions of bettors. Betting at horse-races doesn't teach you nearly as much about horses as actually going to the stables. :P

These imputed opinions tend to do a better job than traditional news. On election night, polymarket was ahead of the news channels every step of the way. Edit: to be clear, I’m referring to polymarket essentially “calling” each swing state well before the networks did. I’m not just referring to the overall outcome.

DDHQ was also significantly ahead of the large media, and seemed to be what lead some of the moves in the betting markets. Seems like anyone at DDHQ with the fore-knowledge of the race calling could have easily front ran the betting markets. Same with Nate Silver and his daily releases. In the back of my mind I also wonder about that last minute Iowa pollster who released an outlier poll.
Post reply on HN