Norwegian officers are investigating a possible leak after massive bets had been positioned on the Nobel Peace Prize final result on Polymarket simply hours earlier than it grew to become public.
Venezuelan opposition chief Maria Corina Machado, who gained the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her function within the struggle for democracy, noticed a spike in bets on her victory on the prediction markets hours earlier than the official announcement, Bloomberg reported.
The spike was so notable that Polymarket’s official account posted on social media about it.
A dealer utilizing the deal with “dirtycup” positioned a close to $70,000 guess on Machado and walked away with about $30,000 in revenue, with out including some other sort of publicity. The account had been opened solely weeks earlier and had no prior betting historical past, in response to Polymarket information.
Two different accounts additionally centered solely on Machado and earned a mixed $90,000, native Norwegian outlet Finansavisen reported.
“We take this very critically,” mentioned Kristian Berg Harpviken, director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute. “It appears we’ve got been prey to a felony actor who needs to earn cash on our data.”
Whereas the Nobel Peace Prize choice course of is thought for its secrecy, the committee had reportedly made its resolution days earlier. The committee is now reviewing the state of affairs.
Polymarket permits customers to guess on real-world occasions, from elections to superstar gossip. Its founder, Shayne Coplan, grew to become the world’s youngest self-made billionaire after the agency noticed $2 billion funding from the proprietor of the New York Inventory Change.