South Korea refers 18 Polymarket users to prosecutors after blockchain tracing

South Korea refers 18 Polymarket users to prosecutors after blockchain tracing

As of 15 September 2026, the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency cyber unit had booked 26 people and referred 18 to prosecutors over alleged illegal gambling on Polymarket. Combined stakes in the inquiry sit around $12.7 million (KRW 17.6 billion); the largest single trader accounts for about $4.1 million (KRW 5.7 billion). Investigation is continuing, so totals may grow.

The charge framed in desk coverage is illegal gambling under Article 246 of Korea’s Criminal Act. These are referrals, not convictions.

Timeline: inquiry before the August block

Police opened a preliminary inquiry in March and began bookings from May. Korea’s broadcasting and communications standards body ordered Polymarket blocked on 18 August 2026. Conduct under investigation, desks stress, happened while the platform was still reachable — this is not a case about circumventing that block.

Polymarket is a non-custodial peer-to-peer prediction market. Because an operator-held user list was unrealistic to obtain, police relied on public blockchain records and open-source intelligence to link wallets to traders.

Prediction markets vs gambling — the classification fight

The legal fight turns on whether Polymarket-style contracts count as gambling under Korean law. Desk coverage cites Supreme Court skill-and-chance precedent — including a 2008 golf-for-money analogy — as the background frame prosecutors and defence may argue over.

Separately, attribution-only context from other jurisdictions in recent months includes a Czechia ISP shutdown in July, a Romania ban upheld in April, and a Dutch regulator €487,000 penalty in June. None of that makes Polymarket globally offline, and none of it is a new Korea fine.

What this is — and is not

This piece records police bookings and prosecutor referrals tied to blockchain tracing of Polymarket wallets in South Korea. It does not claim convictions, does not coach VPN or geo-block bypass, and does not rehash Lithuania’s separate ISP/payment block as fresh news — that desk already shipped on its own slug.

Read it next to [Merkur–SFC French casinos definitive deal](/news/merkur-sfc-french-casinos-definitive). Keep small print and responsible play in view.

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