A Maduro Bet, A Market Alarm: US Lawmaker Targets Trading Abuses

US Rep. Ritchie Torres said he will introduce legislation to curb what he and other lawmakers describe as possible insider trading on prediction markets, after a single, highly timed wager on Polymarket paid off when Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was captured. Related Reading: Bitcoin Dominance Grows As Altcoins Post Another Losing Year: Analyst Reports have disclosed that the bill — being called the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026 — would bar federally elected officials, political appointees and executive branch staff from trading on event markets when they hold material nonpublic information. Public Integrity In Focus According to reporting, a newly created Polymarket account placed roughly $32,500 in bets on a contract that asked whether Maduro would be out of power by January 31, 2026. That stake bought about 438,000 shares when the market price was as low as $0.07 per share late Friday. Within about 24 hours, after action by US forces and an anno