00:00The White House sent an email to staff warning them against placing prediction market bets
00:04related to the Iran war, following suspiciously timed trades on platforms like Polymarket
00:10around both the Iran conflict and the U.S. ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
00:15The warning came after a notable surge of activity, including over $500 million in crude oil futures
00:22trades in the roughly 15 minutes before President Trump announced a pause in hostilities on Truth
00:27Social on March 23rd, prompting Representative Richie Torres to call the activity a statistical
00:33impossibility for anyone other than an insider trader, and urged federal regulators to investigate.
00:39The White House stressed that all federal employees are already barred from trading on inside information,
00:45while prediction market platforms Calci and Polymarket both announced tightened insider trading
00:51rules in March amid growing scrutiny over the lack of regulation in the space.
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