CEO Shayne Coplan instructed employees to prioritize growth and accept regulatory penalties following a wave of stolen-card attacks on the betting platform. Fraudsters attempted to move at least $10 million through Polymarket U.S. accounts in February using stolen debit cards for wagers and withdrawals. At one point, a payment processor rejected more than 80% of deposits as fraudulent, compared to a 1% industry average.

The directive to ignore compliance risk in favor of expansion shocked some employees who warned that growth gaps enabled the exploit, people familiar with the events told the Wall Street Journal. Polymarket stated it has procedures to respond to suspicious activity and is committed to working with law enforcement and regulators.