A mysterious insider on Polymarket gains $400K following the capture of Nicolás Maduro, sparking immediate calls for federal regulation. After a trader turned $32,500 into a massive windfall just hours before the U.S. military operation was public, Rep. Ritchie Torres is proposing the Public Integrity Act of 2026. The bill seeks to ban government officials from profiting on “insider information” within the prediction market ecosystem, which exploded to over $44 billion in volume in 2025.
How The Insider on Polymarket Gains $400K
On Saturday morning, while global headlines focused on the high-stakes military operation, blockchain analysts began dissecting a series of unusual transactions. They identified a newly created account on Polymarket that executed only four trades in late December, all of which focused exclusively on U.S. intervention in Venezuela.
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The trader purchased contracts betting that Maduro would be “out of office” by January 31. At the time, the market gave this outcome a single-digit probability, with contracts priced at a mere $0.07. Then, at approximately 10:00 PM ET on Friday, nearly three hours before the White House officially announced the arrest, the price began a vertical ascent.
Insider’s address, 0x31a56e9e690c621ed21de08cb559e9524cdb8ed9, gained over $400K on Polymarket.
By the time President Trump posted a photograph on Truth Social showing Maduro blindfolded aboard the USS Iwo Jima, the unknown trader had realized a 1,200% return as contract values hit $1.00, leading regulators to suspect a textbook case of insider trading rather than a speculative hunch.
Interestingly, one Polymarket user claimed an $80,000 profit by tracking the “Pentagon Pizza Index.” They noticed a massive surge in late-night Domino’s orders at locations surrounding the Pentagon, a classic, low-tech proxy for increased military staffing and imminent operations.
How i made 80,000$ in a single night using @Polymarket
Basically ever since the US brought their largest aircraft carrier i knew a strike was 100% going to happen, but i did not know when. So i built a vibe coded bot to track the dominos pizza orders around the pentagon because… https://t.co/Jx1ODEGtJ2— Sweetcheeks (🌲,🌲) (@SweetcheeksReal) January 3, 2026
Ritchie Torres Proposes Public Integrity Act 2026
The incident caught the immediate attention of the U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres. On Saturday, Torres announced he will introduce the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026.
NEW — RITCHIE TORRES (D-N.Y.) will introduce a bill on this.
Bill will be called the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026
Description, per a source:
This bill prohibits federal elected officials, political appointees, and Executive Branch employees… https://t.co/eZZ9BmAMgJ
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 3, 2026
While the STOCK Act already restricts officials from using non-public information to trade stocks and bonds, the legal status of prediction markets remains a murky gray area. Torres’s legislation seeks to explicitly prohibit federally elected officials, political appointees, and executive branch employees from trading prediction market contracts related to government policy or political outcomes.
“The public must have confidence that government officials are not treating sensitive state secrets like a personal piggy bank,” a source familiar with the draft legislation stated.
Kalshi Claims Compliance, Polymarket Ignores Critics
Kalshi, a U.S.-regulated exchange, responded quickly to the news. Through its public relations channels, the company emphasized that its platform rules already prohibit insiders and policymakers from trading on material non-public information (MNPI). Because Kalshi operates under the oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), it maintains strict “Know Your Customer” (KYC) protocols and surveillance systems to flag suspicious activity.
FWIW, Kalshi prohibits this activity on our exchange: Rule 5.17 (y) and (z) https://t.co/5SSbM75CKf
— Kalshi News (@KalshiNewsroom) January 3, 2026
Polymarket, on the other hand, operates as a decentralized platform. While it has exploded in popularity, often serving as a more accurate barometer of political outcomes than traditional polling, its decentralized nature makes enforcement difficult. Users can often trade with significant anonymity, making it a preferred venue for those who might want to stay off the regulatory radar.
The timing of the legislation is particularly sensitive given Donald Trump Jr.’s high-profile advisory roles at both Kalshi and Polymarket following significant venture investments from his firm in 2025.
Looking Ahead
The 2026 Act signals a shift in how Washington views political wagering. Lawmakers now treat bets on political outcomes with the same gravity as commodity investments.
Whether the trader in question was a lucky speculator or a government employee with a tip remains a mystery. However, the $400,000 profit has provided Representative Torres with all the political capital he needs to push for tighter restrictions. As prediction markets continue to influence the public narrative, the U.S. government is making it clear: the era of the “unregulated insider” is coming to an end.
