Polymarket pauses trading after security incident at third-party provider
The prediction market platform halted trading on its international platform for about an hour on Thursday after a third-party provider was compromised, and says it will reimburse affected traders.
At a glance
- Polymarket paused trading on its international platform for about an hour on Thursday after a security incident at a third-party provider.
- Trading resumed on Thursday afternoon and Polymarket said it will fully reimburse all affected traders.
- Reports linked the incident to UK-based website monitoring firm DebugBear, whose own site was down on Thursday.
Polymarket temporarily halted trading on its international platform on Thursday after a security incident at a third-party provider, the prediction market company said.
The pause lasted about an hour, and trading resumed on Thursday afternoon. Polymarket said it had identified and resolved the issue and described the halt as a precaution. The platform pledged to fully reimburse all affected traders.
In a post on X once trading had restarted, the company said it would make things right and pay back everyone who was affected. Polymarket also said it had referred the incident to a law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom.
Reports point to DebugBear
Media reports have linked the source of the incident to DebugBear, a UK-based company that provides tools for monitoring website performance.
DebugBear's own website was unavailable on Thursday afternoon, and the company posted on X that it was "impacted by an ongoing security incident". It advised clients who were using one of its products to remove the embed code from their websites. DebugBear did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Scope of impact unclear
It was not immediately clear how many of the platform's traders were affected by the disruption, or how broad the impact of the incident was overall. Polymarket said anyone who was affected "will be made whole".
The suspension applied to Polymarket's international platform, and the company said the problem had been fixed. Details of how the third-party provider was compromised, and how reimbursements will be handled, were not immediately available.
Source: The Guardian World.
Questions and answers
- Why did Polymarket stop trading?
- Polymarket halted trading on its international platform on Thursday because a security incident compromised a third-party provider. It said it acted out of caution and resumed trading about an hour later.
- Will affected Polymarket traders be refunded?
- Yes. Polymarket said it will fully reimburse all affected traders, adding that anyone affected "will be made whole".
- Who is DebugBear?
- DebugBear is a UK-based company that offers website performance-monitoring tools. Reports linked it to the source of the incident, and DebugBear said it was impacted by an ongoing security incident.
