French whales betting on Trump only do it for money
A French trader who bet $30 million on betting website Polymarket that Donald Trump would win the presidential election said he had no political motive for doing so.
In an interview with female Wall Street Journalthe so-called whale calls himself “Théo” and says he bet on Trump for just one reason.
“My goal is just to make money,” he said.
After raising questions about large pro-Trump transactions on the platform, Polymarket contacted the French whale behind the accounts but did not reveal his identity, saying only that he had “experience Extensive trading experience and fundamental knowledge of financial services.
Some big bets by traders skewed the election odds in Trump’s favor, magazine reported last month, raising concerns about market manipulation to change voters’ perceptions of the race.
But Théo denied any such motive and told magazine in an email, “I have absolutely no political agenda.”
He also said he was betting on Polymarket with his own money, which he said was the bulk of his liquid assets. The agency could not verify whether this was true. A Polymarket spokesperson did not immediately respond Luckrequest for comment by.
Using various accounts on Polymarket, Théo won his huge Trump bet through a series of small trades that he said helped prevent the price of his bet from rising so you can get a better deal.
For example, during a 10-hour period last week, traders’ trades Theo4 made more than 450 bets on Vice President Kamala Harris not winning the presidential election with money ranging from $5 to tens of thousands of dollars.
Polymarket has been cited by mainstream media over the past several months as an alternative to traditional polls, with some election watchers arguing that the prediction market is is more likely to reflect a more accurate image of racing because people are putting real money behind their bets.
However Polymarket is not available to US users and yet Fined by CFTC in 2022 for “offering binary options contracts based on forex events.” Two separate investigations by blockchain companies also found that a large portion of trading volume on Polymarket could be attributed to “wash trading,” a form of market manipulation in which traders buy and selling shares multiple times to improperly inflate volume and market activity. Luck reported.
“Polymarket’s terms of use prohibit market manipulation,” a Polymarket spokesperson previously said in a statement to Luck. “We strive to provide users with the fairest analysis possible, and our transparency lets the market decide.”
If Théo’s bet on Trump is successful, he could double his money, netting about $80 million, according to reports. magazine. If Harris wins, he could lose most of his money or worse, lose the entire bet.
Théo said that when he first participated in election betting, he placed a huge bet on Trump because he believed that the Republican candidate’s election odds were being underestimated by mainstream polls. He pointed to the word polls 2016 and 2020 this is much lower than Trump’s vote total, and the idea is that some people do not want to publicly support Trump. Word polls New York Times/Siena College And Reuters/Ipsos putting Trump and Harris in a heated situation with many days left until election day.
the magazine describes Théo as a man with a “short, neatly trimmed beard” and wearing a gray shirt. Nike sweater and has a slight accent when speaking English. He said he previously lived in the US and traded for banks. The French whale also said he did not want to give his full name because his friends and children did not know about his huge fortune.
While Théo was confident about Trump’s ability to win in his interview with magazinehe nervously admitted that the political winds could change in an instant.
“Something unexpected can always happen,” he said.
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