South Korea Blocks Polymarket
South Korea's Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) has officially blocked access to prediction-market platform Polymarket, ruling that its activity amounts to illegal gambling. Regulators said the platform's winner-takes-all structure — where outcomes on politics, sports or weather determine users' gains or losses — falls under the Criminal Act's provisions on facilitating gambling as well as the National Sports Promotion Act. Polymarket's defense, that it operates through non-custodial peer-to-peer smart contracts and isn't an "organizer" of betting, was rejected; regulators said decentralized architecture doesn't exempt a platform from Korean law. With the decision, South Korea joins more than 30 jurisdictions, including France, Spain and Indonesia, that have restricted access to the service. The review began in May 2026 following a police complaint. Regulatory pressure on crypto-adjacent platforms keeps building worldwide — stay on top of the news and exchange your assets at great rates on xbit.money.