P2P.me Faces Insider Trading Allegations Over Polymarket Bets

P2P.me, a cryptocurrency payments platform, is facing questions over a $20,000 Polymarket bet tied to its own fundraising campaign after disclosing that it traded on the outcome before the round opened publicly.

On March 27, P2P.me announced that it had liquidated a Polymarket betting position on its ability to meet its $6 million fundraising target. The company disclosed that it placed the bets 10 days before officially opening its funding round.

Big Polymarket Profit Sparks Insider Trading Debate

P2P.me admitted that, at the time the wagers were placed, it had already secured an oral commitment of $3 million from the venture capital firm Multicoin.

Some legal observers said the $3 million oral commitment could be viewed as material non-public information, though P2P.me said the absence of signed documents meant the outcome was still uncertain.

P2P.me further defended the trade and characterized the bet as a “vote of confidence.”

“We named the account “P2P Team” deliberately – to give a marketing signal of our presence to the community and reflect our intent to be transparent. But intent isn’t the same as action. Not disclosing at the time was a mistake we own. We took time to study the legal implications before speaking, which is why we stayed silent until now with a “No Comments” stance! – that too is a fair criticism,” it stated.

P2P.me eventually raised $5.2 million from outside investors, allowing the firm to close its Polymarket positions at $35,212. The trade generated a profit of roughly $14,700 from an initial entry of $20,500.

Following the backlash, some investors and industry insiders argued that the incident was being blown out of proportion. They attributed the trade to naiveté rather than malice.

Simon Dedic, co-founder of Moonrock Capital and an investor in P2P.me, defended the team’s character and motive. According to him, the trade was a misguided “guerrilla marketing stunt” designed to show conviction.

“No one with any common sense would risk a $6 million raise over $15,000. The idea was to show such strong conviction in the sale that they’d even bet on themselves. This is exactly why they intentionally named the account ‘P2P team.’ Otherwise, you’d have to argue they’re the most incompetent insider traders of all time,” Dedic added.

Amid mounting criticism on the eve of its planned initial coin offering, P2P.me announced that it would route the proceeds from trading to the MetaDAO Treasury. The company clarified that MetaDAO had no prior knowledge of the trades.

This incident comes at a time when prediction markets are enjoying an explosive growth in the sector. Blockchain platform TRM Labs stated that the sector’s transaction volumes have surged from $1.2 billion in early 2025 to more than $20 billion by January 2026.

Due to this rapid growth, there have been increasing regulatory concerns about decentralized prediction markets. Platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi have recently implemented stricter surveillance measures to curb insider trading.