Polymarket has rolled out a refreshed set of market integrity rules for its prediction platforms, tightening standards to align with regulatory expectations and bolster its status as a regulated trading venue. The update covers both its global decentralized finance platform and its US exchange, which operates under oversight by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The move comes as regulators and lawmakers intensify scrutiny over risks linked to insider trading, market manipulation, and the use of event-based contracts.

Polymarket described the overhaul as a comprehensive upgrade to market design, settlement criteria, and data sourcing, while expanding its monitoring and surveillance to detect suspicious activity. The company also signaled a pragmatic stance by curbing certain market types that it views as easier to manipulate or ethically fraught. The changes underscore an industry-wide push to improve integrity as prediction markets gain broader attention from regulators and the public.

In a separate note, Polymarket highlighted a recent internal action in which it banned and reported users who pressured an Israeli journalist to amend a news article about an Iranian missile strike, a case that drew significant attention to how trading platforms may be used to influence reporting or profit from real-world events. More on that episode is discussed below as part of the broader context for the policy shift.

Key takeaways

• Polymarket updates its market integrity rules for both its DeFi platform and US exchange, with CFTC oversight reaffirmed as a central feature.
• New measures include stricter market design, clearer outcome-resolution criteria, better-defined data sources, and enhanced surveillance to flag suspicious activity.
• The platform will limit certain markets that are deemed highly manipulable or ethically sensitive, signaling a targeted risk-management approach.
• The move arrives amid ongoing regulatory scrutiny and a series of partnerships aimed at legitimizing prediction markets, including a high-profile MLB deal and an explicit integrity framework with the CFTC.

Polymarket’s rule overhaul and regulatory alignment

Polymarket’s leadership framed the rule updates as a necessary step toward stronger compliance and greater transparency for participants. By detailing resolution criteria—how and when outcomes are settled—and tying those outcomes to verifiable data sources, the platform aims to reduce disputes and ambiguity that have historically plagued event-based markets. The enhanced monitoring and surveillance functions are designed to detect patterns indicative of manipulation or insider trading, a concern repeatedly raised by policymakers as prediction markets expand.

Crucially, the update frames Polymarket’s operations in the context of its CFTC oversight for its US-facing exchange. While the global DeFi platform operates with broader jurisdictional considerations, the company emphasizes that its compliance program is built to meet regulatory expectations across its product spectrum. The policy shift is portrayed not merely as a cosmetic update but as a foundational change intended to support sustainable growth in a space that regulators are still learning to evaluate.

In the same vein, Polymarket has signaled limits on markets that could invite manipulation or raise ethical red flags. While the specifics of restricted categories were not disclosed in comprehensive detail, the stance aligns with broader regulatory caution around high-stakes bets tied to real-world events and public interest.

Regulatory push, partnerships, and the market backdrop

The timing of Polymarket’s policy refresh sits within a broader pattern of regulatory scrutiny and industry responses. Prediction markets have surged in popularity, attracting large communities of traders betting on real-world developments. That momentum has attracted investment, with reports suggesting Polymarket raised hundreds of millions and eyed a multi-billion-dollar valuation in a recent fundraising phase. Still, the regulatory environment remains unsettled in many jurisdictions, with several US states taking action against prediction platforms accused of functioning as unlicensed gambling services.

Publicly, Polymarket has pointed to partnerships as a pathway to legitimacy. Notably, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced a deal with Polymarket, paired with a separate CFTC-focused agreement aimed at “integrity protections.” The collaboration signals regulators’ interest in embedding guardrails and oversight into prediction-market ecosystems while enabling mainstream adoption through established institutions. In parallel, coverage of the broader market has included attention to how these platforms handle ethics and fairness, especially as they scale and attract mainstream users.

As a backdrop, Polymarket also faced controversy tied to its markets. A widely reported incident involved a small cluster of accounts that reportedly generated substantial profits by timing bets related to U.S. strikes on Iran. Bloomberg’s coverage noted that the six accounts were newly created in February and had limited prior betting activity, sparking concerns about possible insider information advantages and the fairness of rapid-fire conclusions. While not a formal verdict on manipulation, the episode has intensified calls for stronger guardrails and clearer compliance standards across prediction markets. For readers tracking this thread, the Bloomberg report provides a contemporary data point illustrating the tensions between high profitability and the need for robust market integrity tools.

Last week, Polymarket also disclosed that it had banned and reported users who pressured a journalist to alter coverage about the Iran-related event that became the subject of a $17 million market.

These developments occur alongside a broader debate about the accountability of platform operators in DeFi and hybrid models. Critics argue that even well-intentioned systems can be exploited to shape outcomes or reward certain information asymmetries, while proponents contend that regulated, transparent marketplaces can outperform opaque or unregulated alternatives. The latest Polymarket update is a tangible effort to tilt the balance toward the former, with concrete reforms designed to reduce manipulation vectors and improve user confidence.

What readers should watch next

Polymarket’s integrity refresh offers a clearer blueprint for what investors and users should expect from regulated prediction markets: stronger governance around how bets are structured, settled, and monitored; explicit data provenance; and a deliberate stance on market types that pose outsized manipulation risk. The company’s ongoing partnerships with sports leagues and regulators will be critical to watch, as they may set a precedent for how other platforms negotiate the line between innovation and compliance.

Equally important is the evolving regulatory landscape in the United States and abroad. As enforcement actions and legislative proposals continue to shape the permissible scope of prediction markets, continued transparency from operators and a demonstrated commitment to preventing abuse will determine whether these platforms can sustain momentum and broader participation.

In the near term, observers will be looking for concrete outcomes from Polymarket’s enhanced compliance framework: measurable reductions in manipulation indicators, clearer settlement standards, and more robust disclosures around data sources. The next wave of updates could also reveal how the company balances market openness with risk controls—a balance that will influence investor confidence, user participation, and the overall trajectory of event-based prediction markets.

As the market evolves, readers should keep an eye on regulatory announcements, enforcement actions by state authorities, and any clarifications from the CFTC or other regulators regarding the treatment of prediction markets. The convergence of corporate partnerships, formal integrity protocols, and regulatory oversight marks a pivotal moment for the sector—one that could shape how these platforms exist within the broader crypto and financial ecosystem.

TLDR

• OpenAI is in advanced talks to purchase electricity from Helion Energy under a long-term supply framework.
• The proposed agreement would grant OpenAI 12.5% of Helion’s projected power output.
• The allocation could reach 5 gigawatts by 2030 and expand to 50 gigawatts by 2035.
• Helion raised $425 million in January 2025, bringing its valuation to $5.425 billion post-money.
• Sam Altman stepped down as Helion’s board chair and recused himself from the OpenAI discussions.

OpenAI is negotiating a large electricity purchase from Helion Energy to secure a long-term power supply. The proposed framework would allocate 12.5% of Helion’s projected output to OpenAI. The talks reflect a direct move toward energy procurement as computing demand accelerates.

OpenAI and Helion outline multi-gigawatt power framework

OpenAI is in advanced discussions to purchase electricity from Helion Energy, according to Axios. The proposed structure would grant OpenAI 12.5% of Helion’s future output. That share would equal 5 gigawatts by 2030 under current projections.

Axios reported that the allocation could increase to 50 gigawatts by 2035. A 5 gigawatt commitment would rank among the largest for a single customer. Meanwhile, 50 gigawatts would align with infrastructure planning at a national scale.

Sources told Axios that both parties continue to negotiate key terms. The agreement remains conditional, and several issues remain unresolved. These issues include the location of future power production sites.

Sam Altman previously invested heavily in Helion Energy. However, Axios reported that Altman stepped down as Helion’s board chair. He also recused himself from OpenAI’s deal discussions to address conflict concerns.

Helion believes it is nearing scientific breakeven in fusion development. Breakeven marks the point where fusion generates more energy than it consumes. Yet no private fusion company has achieved that milestone to date.

Funding history and prior fusion agreements shape talks

Helion Energy raised $425 million in a Series F round in January 2025. The funding valued the company at $5.425 billion post-money. Total funding has now surpassed $1 billion.

SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Mithril Capital, and Good Ventures Foundation backed the round. Sam Altman previously led Helion’s $500 million Series E round in 2021. These investments positioned Helion among the most capitalized private fusion firms.

In 2023, Helion signed the world’s first fusion power purchase agreement with Microsoft. The agreement targets delivery of at least 50 megawatts by 2028. In July 2025, Helion secured land and began building its first fusion plant.

Google has pursued a separate path through Commonwealth Fusion Systems. In June 2025, Google agreed to purchase 200 megawatts from CFS’s ARC plant in Virginia. Both companies described the transaction as a major fusion milestone.

The Solana Foundation is making a new pitch to large institutions: privacy as a customizable feature, not a trade-off.

In a report released on Monday by the foundation, “Privacy on Solana: A Full-Spectrum Approach for the Modern Enterprise,” the organization argued that the next phase of crypto adoption will depend less on transparency alone and more on giving companies control over what they reveal — and to whom.

The framing marks a shift from crypto’s early ethos. Public blockchains have traditionally emphasized openness, where transactions are visible and traceable, even if users are represented only by wallet addresses. The report acknowledged that this “pseudonymity” model, while foundational, falls short for many real-world use cases. Financial institutions, for example, may need to prove transactions occurred without exposing counterparties, while companies processing payroll must avoid broadcasting employee salaries.

Underlying the pitch is a technical claim: that Solana’s speed makes advanced privacy techniques practical. The team argued that the network’s high throughput and low latency allow these methods to run at near-web speeds, opening the door to use cases such as encrypted order books or private credit risk calculations.

But rather than offering a single solution for privacy, the foundation presented privacy as a spectrum composed of four distinct modes: pseudonymity, confidentiality, anonymity and fully private systems.

At the base level, pseudonymity keeps identities obscured behind wallet addresses while leaving transaction data visible. Moving along the spectrum, confidentiality allows participants to be known while encrypting sensitive information like balances and transfer amounts.

Anonymity flips that dynamic, hiding the identities of participants while allowing transaction data to remain visible. At the far end are fully private systems, where both identities and transaction data are shielded through techniques like zero-knowledge proofs and multiparty computation.

The message is that no single privacy model fits all. “For enterprises, privacy is a spectrum, not a switch,” the report said.

What Solana is trying to do is bring all of these privacy options into one system. Instead of choosing just one approach, companies can mix and match tools — like hiding transaction amounts, proving something is valid without revealing details, or controlling who can access certain data — depending on what they need.

In practice, that could mean executing trades without revealing order size, sharing risk data across banks without exposing individual balance sheets, or allowing users to prove compliance without disclosing personal information.

The report leans heavily on the idea that privacy and regulation can coexist. The team pointed to mechanisms like “auditor keys,” which enable designated parties to decrypt transactions when required. Other systems would allow wallets to demonstrate compliance status without revealing identity. These features are framed as a response to growing regulatory scrutiny, particularly around anti-money laundering rules and financial surveillance.

“Privacy is a market requirement,” the report said. “Customers expect it and applications require it. On Solana, you choose your privacy level, from encrypted balances to zero-knowledge anonymity to multiparty confidential computing. Each level maps to a compliance path, and each is composable with the broader ecosystem.”

Read more: Solana Foundation’s Liu: Focus on finance, not gaming ‘misadventures’

Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) founder Michael Saylor purchased 1,031 bitcoin (BTC) last week at an average price of $74,326.

Saylor’s buy was in the 80th percentile of the available range and BTC traded between $67,354 and $76,013 during that period. 

It wasn’t a fluke.

Year-to-date across his 12-weekly SEC Form 8-K disclosures totaling 89,599 BTC purchases for $7.25 billion this year, Strategy has consistently bought in the top half of each week’s trading range.

This is according to our analysis of the company’s own SEC filings and corresponding BTC market data.

Strategy’s 2026 purchases of BTC landed above the midpoint of each purchase period’s trading range 80% of the time.

Saylor buys BTC near the top

The pattern holds even when weighting for size. Indeed, Strategy’s two largest purchases of the year, 22,337 BTC in the week ending March 15 and 22,305 BTC in the week ending January 19, both cleared above the midpoint of each week’s range.

The January purchase, disclosed on January 20, cost $95,284 per coin while BTC traded between $90,016 and $97,939 that week.

That placed Strategy at the 66th percentile of the range on its $2.1 billion purchase.

In early February, the firm bought 1,142 BTC at $78,815 during a week when BTC ranged from $59,930 to $79,301. Embarrassingly, that’s the 97th percentile or nearly the worst prices Strategy could have paid.

BTC spent most of that week at much lower prices, but Saylor paid near the ceiling.

Only three of the 12 weekly purchases landed below the midpoint of the range. Worse, those three combined for just 16,705 BTC, or 18.6% of total volume purchased year to date.

‘I’m going to be buying the top forever’

Saylor has acknowledged his approach openly. “I’m going to be buying the top forever,” he posted on X.

Of course, that statement is supposed to reference the slow and long-term price appreciation of BTC, not the literal reality that Saylor is buying near the top of BTC trading ranges.

The numbers confirm it. Strategy’s volume-weighted average purchase price for 2026 is $80,929. BTC currently trades near $70,000, leaving the company’s entire 2026 buying program roughly $1 billion underwater.

The company now holds 762,099 BTC acquired for a blended average of $75,694. At today’s prices, that treasury has an unrealized loss of over $4 billion.

The company’s MSTR common stock, which opened 2026 at $154.59, opened for trading this morning at $138.92, a 10% year-to-date decline.

Each Monday, Saylor discloses the prior week’s purchases via an 8-K filing. The day prior, on Sundays, he usually hints at the purchase by posting some sort of vague yet eminently obvious reference to “orange dots” on his SaylorTracker.

Protos previously noted a similar pattern in April 2025 when Strategy paid well into the top third of the weekly range while BTC spent most of the week near its lows.

A new venture capital firm focused on prediction markets is launching with backing from Polymarket founder and CEO Shayne Coplan and Kalshi co-founder and CEO Tarek Mansour, Bloomberg reported.

The firm, called 5c(c) Capital (named after a section of the Commodity Exchange Act that governs prediction markets) may be the first venture fund built specifically to invest in companies shaped by that regulatory and market structure.

“We want to capitalize on the second-, third-, and fourth-order effects of what we built ourselves,” the founders wrote in a document viewed by Bloomberg.

The launch comes as prediction markets shift from a niche corner of finance into a more visible part of how people track events. Since the U.S. presidential election, trading volumes have climbed and new users have entered the space. Platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi now host contracts tied to politics, economic data and cultural events, turning public opinion into tradable signals. Polymarket’s trades run on the blockchain. Many crypto-native companies, including Coinbase (COIN) and Kraken, as well as Robinhood (HOOD), have also entered the space in recent months.

That growth has created new business openings beyond the platforms themselves. Startups are beginning to build data tools, liquidity services and compliance systems that support these markets.

5c(c) Capital plans to raise up to $35 million and invest in about 20 portfolio companies over the next two years, according to the document. The strategy centers on early-stage bets tied to infrastructure and services around prediction markets rather than the exchanges alone.

Early backing includes more than twenty investors, among them a portfolio manager at Millennium Management, several crypto-focused venture firms and founders of other prediction market platforms such as PredictIt.

Polymarket declined to comment. Kalshi did not respond in time for publication.

• Active XRP addresses dropped over 40% in four days.
• XRP price remains stuck between a tight trading range.
• Retail holders have grown, but overall network activity is slowing.

XRP has entered a tight and uncertain phase after a brief rally following an announcement by US President Donald Trump that the United States will pause strikes on energy and power installations in Iran after the expiry of the 48-hour ultimatum on opening the Strait of Hormuz.

BREAKING PRESIDENT TRUMP: 🇺🇸🇮🇷 We had very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of hostilities in the Middle East.

Military strikes postponed for 5 days. pic.twitter.com/wiZh9F1H5p

— Donald J Trump Posts TruthSocial (@TruthTrumpPost) March 23, 2026

The momentum that initially lifted prices following Trump’s announcement now appears to be fading as the market struggles to find direction.

At the time of writing, XRP is trading around $1.43.

The price has moved within a narrow range between $1.36 and $1.46, reflecting hesitation among traders after a week where XRP slipped by about 5%, extending its broader downward trend over the past year.

While the recent rally gave traders hope, the follow-through has been weak.

XRP Ledger activity drops sharply

One of the most notable developments is the sharp decline in XRP Ledger (XRPL) network activity.

Notably, XRP’s active addresses have fallen by more than 40% within just a few days, according to the data obtained from CryptoQuant.

This drop signals a slowdown in user engagement, which often reflects reduced demand in the short term.

Fewer active participants usually translate to less transaction volume and weaker momentum.

This decline contrasts with the earlier optimism that surrounded XRP’s growing number of wallet holders.

While more people may be holding XRP, fewer are actively using it.

This gap between ownership and activity suggests that investors are choosing to wait rather than act.

Such behaviour is common during uncertain market conditions.

Retail growth continues despite the slowdown

Even as activity drops, the number of smaller XRP holders continues to grow steadily.

This trend points to increasing retail interest in the asset.

A rising base of small holders often signals long-term confidence, even if short-term sentiment is mixed.

It also suggests that XRP is becoming more widely distributed rather than concentrated in a few large hands.

However, growing ownership alone does not guarantee price growth.

Without strong network activity to support it, price movements can remain limited.

This is the situation XRP appears to be facing now.

XRP price outlook

XRP’s current price movements reflect a market caught between opposing forces.

On one hand, there is optimism driven by broader adoption and past rally attempts.

On the other hand, there is clear evidence of weakening participation and fading momentum.

The asset remains well below its previous peak, showing that recovery is still incomplete.

Short-term price action suggests consolidation rather than a decisive move in either direction, with the immediate support level at near $1.33 holding for now.

At the same time, resistance around $1.54 to $1.60 continues to limit upward movement, creating a narrow trading range that traders are watching closely.