Polymarket hiring in-house team to trade against customers, here's why it's a risk. The prediction market’s move toward internal market making could blur the line with sportsbooks and undermine the platform’s neutrality, experts warn.

Polymarket, a leading crypto-based prediction market, is building an internal market-making / trading desk that will take the other side of users’ bets, a structural shift that critics say raises conflicts of interest and could make the platform resemble a sportsbook rather than a neutral marketplace. The move aims to deepen liquidity and improve pricing, but experts and industry observers warn it may undermine user trust, invite greater regulatory scrutiny, and mirror controversy already facing competitor Kalshi. According to reporting based on internal plans and recruiter outreach, Polymarket has been recruiting professional traders and sports bettors to staff a new in-house market-making unit that will directly trade against customers on the platform. Historically, Polymarket relied on external liquidity providers, but bringing this function in-house would allow the company tighter control over spreads, liquidity, and support for more complex products like parlays via request-for-quote mechanisms. Proponents within the industry argue that internal market makers can reduce slippage and ensure that users can always get matched on trades, especially around high-profile events where liquidity is critical. Critics, however, highlight several risk factors. First, an internal desk that both operates the platform and trades on it may gain access to sensitive, nonpublic information—such as aggregate order flow, user positioning, or deposit and withdrawal patterns—that could give it an informational edge over customers. This blurs the line between being a neutral prediction market venue and “being the house,” a structure more akin to a sportsbook, and could erode confidence in the fairness of markets if users believe they are betting against a better-informed insider. Second, the design resembles the model used by rival Kalshi, which has drawn criticism and a class-action lawsuit over alleged conflicts and misaligned incentives between the platform and its users. Observers note that adopting a similar structure could heighten regulatory and legal scrutiny, particularly as U.S. regulators continue to debate how to classify and oversee prediction markets that increasingly resemble betting platforms. "entities":["Polymarket","Kalshi","CoinDesk","Bloomberg","Brave New Coin","SQ Magazine"]}`

✨ AI-generated background, compiled from web sources — not editorial content.

More coverage

• Polymarket plans to use in-house market maker to trade against users (tradingview.com)
• Polymarket Recruiting for In-House Team That Trades With Customers (bloomberg.com)
• Polymarket Builds In-House Trading Desk to Trade Against Users (sqmagazine.co.uk)
• Polymarket Plans In-House Trading Team to Compete Against Users (bravenewcoin.com)
• Polymarket Hiring In-House Team to Trade Against Customers (x.com)

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