Polymarket lobbies EU and UK for MiFID financial services status
Polymarket has launched a lobbying campaign across Europe to persuade financial regulators to classify it as a financial services firm rather than a gambling operator subject to fragmented national laws. The company is making its case to watchdogs in London, Brussels and EU member states as it pursues a unified regulatory framework for its event-contract business. MiFID status would place the platform under formal European financial-market oversight. The push follows Polymarket's 2025 acquisition of CFTC-licensed exchange QCEX and its existing US operations under a CFTC order of designation.
MiFID classification would hand Polymarket a single European license instead of thirty-plus national gambling permits. That slashes compliance cost and opens cross-border liquidity pools that gambling frameworks prohibit. The lobbying push risks collision with ESMA, which has already declared the platform unauthorized and linked prediction markets to insider trading. French and other national supervisors are already moving to block access independently.
If Brussels accepts MiFID treatment, Polymarket gains a regulatory model other platforms would copy; if ESMA's fraud framing wins, the lobbying becomes evidence of a firm operating outside its authorization. European banking partners will read the outcome as precedent before committing to custody or clearing relationships. The UK FCA's parallel review of its own ban adds a second decision node, and divergence between London and Brussels could fragment the platform's European strategy before it launches.
Polymarket's direct lobbying of Brussels and London regulators now joins its earlier Blockchain for Europe membership and the ESMA authorization warning that forced the industry to treat Europe as a legal minefield, making this the third formal European regulatory front the platform has opened in under ten days.