Indonesia Blocks Polymarket After Gambling-Law Crackdown on Prediction Markets

Indonesia has restricted access to Polymarket after regulators move to treat real-money event contracts as “gambling” without proper licensing or exemptions. The report says enforcement can happen via ISP/DNS blocking rather than a slow, case-by-case approval process. Polymarket is a crypto prediction market where users trade “Yes/No” shares on real-world outcomes and settle with stablecoins on public blockchains (historically Polygon and USDC). Regulators focus on the economic substance—users stake value on uncertain outcomes—rather than the platform’s “information market” branding. The article highlights overlapping Indonesian oversight: Kominfo can order content restrictions, online gambling prohibitions can apply under criminal law, and stablecoin-based wagering may raise payment and AML concerns. Even decentralized front ends can be targeted. For traders, the immediate risk is market disruption: blocked access can delay position management and withdrawals, while crackdown periods tend to increase fake mirror sites and phishing attempts. The piece also links the move to broader Asia enforcement and recalls the U.S. CFTC’s 2022 action against Polymarket’s operator, after which Polymarket geofenced U.S. users. Bottom line for traders: Polymarket regulatory classification risk is rising in strict jurisdictions, which can quickly affect liquidity and counterparty behavior around enforcement timelines.