Is Polymarket legit? What is legal in the US and what is not

Is Polymarket legit or a scam?

Polymarket US is a federally regulated exchange, not an offshore betting site. The CFTC lists QCX LLC, doing business as Polymarket US, as a designated contract market since July 9, 2025. Its clearinghouse, QC Clearing LLC, now Polymarket Clearing, has been a registered derivatives clearing organization since December 16, 2024. A designated contract market is the federal license for an exchange that lists futures, options or swaps, the same status Kalshi holds.

Polymarket US says it does not set prices or take the other side of your trades, so you trade against other people. Its rulebook bars trading on confidential information or on events you can influence. Under a regulatory services agreement, the National Futures Association may handle some surveillance and investigative work for the exchange.

Legit is not the same as safe for your money. Polymarket US's risk disclosure says you can lose the full amount you put into a contract. Is Kalshi legit? covers Kalshi's record. This page sticks to Polymarket.

How did Polymarket US become legal in the US?

Two companies matter here. Blockratize, Inc., doing business as Polymarket, ran polymarket.com when the CFTC settled with it in 2022. Polymarket US is QCX LLC, an exchange the CFTC designated in 2025 that now operates under the Polymarket US name. Each step below comes from a CFTC order, press release or staff letter.

What happened between polymarket.com and the CFTC?

On January 3, 2022, the CFTC ordered Blockratize, Inc., doing business as Polymarket, to pay a $1.4 million civil penalty. The CFTC found that from about June 2020 the company ran an unregistered platform with more than 900 event markets, which the CFTC treated as swaps that may only trade on a registered exchange. The order also told the company to wind down noncompliant markets on polymarket.com and to stop further violations. The CFTC said the penalty was reduced because the company cooperated.

We found no later CFTC enforcement release about polymarket.com. Reports of other federal inquiries are left out of this guide because we could not check them against an agency or court record.

polymarket.com today is what Polymarket calls its international, crypto-based product. Accounts are crypto wallets, trades are backed by pUSD, a token backed by USDC on the Polygon network, and its geoblock list marks the United States as close-only, so people in the US can close old positions but cannot open new ones.

Is Polymarket safe? How Polymarket US holds your money

Polymarket US says your funds are kept in a dedicated customer account, separate from its operating money, and that it cannot access or use them. In a May 15, 2026 filing with the CFTC, Polymarket Clearing said that where it clears positions for customers, the funds backing them will be held in segregated accounts, and that the US Bankruptcy Code and the CFTC's Part 190 rules would govern if it or one of its clearing members failed.

Polymarket US's money-safety page and participant agreement do not describe FDIC or SIPC coverage, so do not treat your balance like a bank deposit. Segregation keeps the company from spending your deposit. It does nothing about a losing trade.

Your login matters too. Polymarket US warns that if you lose your credentials or someone else gets them, you can lose access to your funds. On polymarket.com the setup is different again: you hold your own funds in a crypto wallet controlled by a private key.

Is Polymarket legal in the US? Federal law vs the states

Under federal law, Polymarket US is a CFTC-designated exchange, and the CFTC's prediction markets page says federally regulated prediction markets can operate in all 50 states. Several states disagree, at least about sports contracts, and have taken Polymarket US to court. The CFTC, for its part, has sued several states over their efforts to apply gambling laws to CFTC-registered exchanges, among them New York (April 24, 2026), Wisconsin (April 28, 2026) and Kentucky (June 23, 2026).

These are the state actions against Polymarket US we confirmed from state releases and court filings as of October 11, 2026.

Which states is Polymarket US banned in?

Polymarket US does not publish a state list. Its participant agreement says you cannot use it if you live in, or are located in, a place where trading is barred by law or by Polymarket US policy, and it names sanctioned countries rather than US states. Because the rule covers where you are as well as where you live, what you can trade may depend on your location.

As of October 11, 2026, the only court limit on Polymarket US we found is in Nevada, where the attorney general announced on June 3, 2026 that a judge would grant a preliminary injunction covering sports, election and entertainment contracts. The lawsuits in Wisconsin, Kentucky and New York ask courts to stop some or all of its markets in those states, but none of them is a ruling yet.

Polymarket US is also suing. Federal court dockets list cases QCX LLC filed against state officials in Massachusetts (February 9, 2026), Michigan (March 4, 2026), Minnesota (June 3, 2026), New Mexico (June 30, 2026) and New York (September 24, 2026). We list the filing dates only. Kalshi alternatives sets out other apps' published state limits.

How old do you have to be to use Polymarket?

On Polymarket US you must be at least 18 and have reached the age of majority in your state, under Rule 3.1 of the Polymarket US rulebook and its participant agreement. You also have to pass an identity check with your legal name, address, date of birth and Social Security number before you can deposit or trade. New York's lawsuit points out that Polymarket US accepts users aged 18 to 20, while New York sets 21 as the minimum for mobile sports betting.

How do you know you're on the real Polymarket US?

The CFTC tells customers to trade only with registered firms and to confirm that a website or app belongs to one. For Polymarket that comes down to these checks:

• Look up QCX LLC in CFTC records, where it is listed as doing business as Polymarket US.
• Use polymarket.us. polymarket.com says trading is blocked in the United States and points US visitors to polymarket.us.
• Get the app through the links on polymarket.us, not from an ad, a direct message or a lookalike site.
• Contact support only through in-app chat or support@polymarket.us. Polymarket US lists no phone line.
• Deposit only from accounts in your own name. Polymarket US sends withdrawals back to the method you deposited with, never to someone else's account.
• Read each market's rules before you trade. They name the source that decides the outcome.

Where to complain about Polymarket US

Start with Polymarket US and keep records: dates, reference IDs and screenshots. The CFTC's prediction markets page says customers can take complaints to their broker, the exchange, the National Futures Association and the CFTC.

• Polymarket US: in-app chat in your account settings, or support@polymarket.us.
• CFTC: file a complaint or tip at cftc.gov/complaint or call 866-366-2382. A trade that lost money is not by itself a rule violation.
• National Futures Association: it may handle surveillance and investigations for Polymarket US under the exchange's rulebook, and NFA BASIC shows registration and disciplinary records for futures firms.
• Your state attorney general: the National Association of Attorneys General directory links to each state's consumer protection office.
• Formal claims against the exchange go to binding arbitration in New York under Rule 9.2 of the Polymarket US rulebook, following its website terms of use.

What can still go wrong on Polymarket US?

A regulated exchange can still cost you money. These risks stay with you:

• You can lose the whole stake. A contract that settles against you pays nothing, and the trading fee is charged either way: $1.74 on 100 contracts at 50 cents on Polymarket US, against $1.75 on Kalshi, whose formula the Kalshi fee calculator runs. Polymarket fees covers the full schedule.
• A high price is not a sure thing. A 90¢ contract implies a 90% chance, about -900 in American odds (the odds converter shows the math), and it still pays nothing if the event does not happen.
• Signup credits are not cash. Polymarket US promo credits can never be withdrawn, your own cash is spent first, and credits expire. Under the CFTC notices, a signup deposit credit expires 7, 10 or 30 days after issue and a referral credit 1 to 30 days after issue, with the period posted for each campaign. doddo, which is not a prediction market, tracks these published terms on its Polymarket US page.
• You may not be able to sell. The risk disclosure warns that a market can lack buyers, which could leave you holding a contract until it expires.
• The exchange has the last word on outcomes. Under Rule 10.4 it can review a contract before settlement and reverse an outcome for obvious error, and its decisions are final.
• Access can change. The court cases above could remove markets where you live.
• Polymarket US's help docs have no tax page. Ask a tax professional how your results are treated.
• If trading stops feeling like a choice, see responsible gaming resources.

Polymarket US next to Kalshi and other apps

On regulation Polymarket US and Kalshi look alike: both are CFTC-designated exchanges with their own registered clearinghouses and an 18-and-up minimum age (Polymarket US also requires the age of majority in your state). Kalshi vs Polymarket compares their fees, deposits and signup terms, the best prediction market apps guide lines up eight apps on published facts, and the prediction markets hub has the rest. How does Polymarket work? explains trading, deposits and withdrawals step by step.