The arrest of Venezuela’s Maduro and the Beat Big Three insiders knew.
A group of suspected raiders have pocketed more than $630,000 at Polymarket after a bid to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The move sparked a swift legislative backlash in Washington, where lawmakers moved to block federal officials from trading in prediction markets.
Sponsored
Legislators have moved to the bar officials from the market
On January 4, blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain identified three digital wallets that made a combined profit of $630,484 on Polymarket betting on Maduro's removal.
Specifically, the wallets were created and funded days before the operation, had no prior trading history, and only targeted contracts linked to the Venezuelan leader.
According to the on-chain data, one wallet “0x31a5” was loaded to $34,000 and made a profit of almost $410,000, while the other turned $25,000 into $145,600. A third wallet turned his 5,800 bet into about $75,000.
The authenticity of the trade—which took place shortly before the news broke internationally—suggests that the negotiators may have had a superior knowledge of diplomatic and military operations.
With this in mind, Lookonchain says that these wallets strongly suggest that the transaction patterns have “insider” access to non-public information.
Sponsored
As such, the incident spurred an urgent push to close regulatory loopholes.
Rich Richie Torres is reportedly planning to introduce the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026. The bill prevents government insiders from benefiting from the effects they can influence or anticipate.
According to a Punchball News report, Torres acknowledged on social media that the law imposes a strict ban.
It prohibits federal elected officials, political appointees and executive branch employees from buying, selling or exchanging contracts on platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi.
“The ban is on the buying, selling or exchange of futures market contracts related to government policy, government action or political outcomes,” explained Jake Sherman, founder of PuneBowl News.
The bill aims to extend ethical frameworks similar to the STOCK Act to the decentralized betting economy.
If passed, it would prohibit government employees from using non-public information about federal enforcement, court decisions and foreign policy for personal gain.
Essentially, the measure aims to preserve the integrity of markets based on the wisdom of the public.
