Polymarket’s Controversial Move: Internal Team to Trade Against Its Own Users

Polymarket is building an in-house trading desk—and its customers are on the other side of the bet.

The House Always Wins

Prediction markets thrive on transparency and trust. Users bet on real-world outcomes, from election results to weather events, expecting a level playing field. Now, Polymarket's decision to hire an internal team to trade against its own user base raises fundamental questions about market integrity. It's not just competing—it's playing with insider knowledge of platform flow and liquidity.

Blurring the Lines

Traditional finance has clear rules separating market-making from proprietary trading for a reason. When the platform itself becomes a participant, the conflict is baked into the system. The internal team sees order flow, senses sentiment shifts, and can move markets before retail users even refresh their screens. It's a structural advantage no external trader can match.

Trust as Collateral

Decentralized prediction markets sell themselves on censorship resistance and fair access. This move feels like a regression—a centralized entity leveraging its position against its own community. Users might start wondering: Is the platform optimizing for accurate predictions or for its own profit? When incentives misalign, the market's credibility becomes the first casualty.

Finance's oldest rule applies here too: If you don't know who the sucker at the table is, it's probably you. Polymarket just made the seating arrangement explicit.

Polymarket, one of the most popular prediction markets in the crypto world, is reportedly planning to launch its own internal market-making desk, a team that would trade directly against users instead of simply letting traders bet against each other.

Experts warn that this decision may hurt the trust Polymarket has built, especially after becoming famous during the 2024 election season.

Polymarket’s New Plan: Trading Against Users

Polymarket is now trying to hire people to work as its own in-house market makers. These traders WOULD set prices and take the opposite side of users’ bets. 

Normally, prediction markets work by letting users trade with each other, not with the platform itself. But, the company says the goal is to add more liquidity so markets MOVE smoothly with more buying and selling

But critics think the real reason is that Polymarket needs a new way to earn money because it doesn’t charge trading fees.

"Polymarket has been recruiting new staff members for an internal market making team that could face off against customers on the company’s exchange, even though a similar feature has exposed its chief rival to criticism."

Polymarket Builds In-House Trading Team as It Re-Enters… pic.twitter.com/hVuYT11TKi

Some insiders also say Polymarket wants to introduce special combined bets, known as parlays. To do that, an internal trading desk would need to price these bets, similar to how a sportsbook operates. This makes Polymarket look less like a prediction market and more like a traditional betting house.

Experts Warn of Serious Risks

Statistics professor Harry Crane says this plan brings more problems than benefits. According to him, the revenue from this trading desk would be very small compared to the company’s huge valuation. 

He also warns that if Polymarket’s internal desk makes too much money, it could spark public anger and even legal trouble, similar to what happened to Kalshi, another prediction platform.

Crane also says this move could damage Polymarket’s identity. Instead of showing market-driven probabilities created by real traders, the odds might start reflecting what Polymarket itself wants.

Could This Hurt Polymarket in the Long Run?

Many users joined Polymarket because it felt open, transparent, and different from sportsbooks. During the 2024 election cycle, news channels used Polymarket’s markets as a way to read public sentiment.

If the platform starts acting like “the house,” people may lose trust, and markets may stop being seen as reliable signals of real-world events.

Meanwhile, users should approach the platform with extra caution. For now, Polymarket has not confirmed when the new trading team will launch.