The United States has launched a major strike against Venezuela, capturing leftist leader and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. But someone else in probably another part of the world just made $400,000 on news that traders suspect is insider trading.
According to a report by The News Republic, a “suspicious” new user made money on the Polymarket prediction market.
The USA bombed Venezuela: How did the businessman earn 400 thousand dollars?
According to a report by The News Republic, this mysterious Polymarket account was created on December 27. With another eyebrow raise, he placed bets on only two things – US bombing of Venezuela and the capture of its president, Nicolás Maduro, who the bet says will be ousted from power by January 31.
A user bet a whopping $35,000 on Polymarket on these two things at a time when market predictions of a US bombing of Venezuela were as low as 6%.
And thanks to suspiciously lucky bets, the user made over $400,000 in less than a day.
According to Axios, other users made similar bets and made thousands of dollars, even though Maduro’s capture came out of the blue for millions of people around the world.
The stakes peaked Friday night, hours before Trump announced early Saturday morning.
The Wall Street Journal report further noted that the market on whether Maduro would be captured and ousted rose shortly before 10:00 PM ET on Friday after hovering around the low single digits for several weeks.
Axios reported that after Maduro’s capture, the suspect account in question made a total of $436,759.61 from their bet.
The question “Maduro in US custody until Jan. 31? shot up at 4:20 a.m. ET after hovering at a low for weeks, which came around the same time Trump announced his extraction to the US.
Who is behind the bets?
The user who minted the huge amount of money still remains anonymous and Polymarket has not released an official statement.
According to a CBS report, US military officials initially discussed bombing Venezuela on Christmas Day. However, they reversed the decision after focusing instead on carrying out ISIS strikes in Nigeria.
While Trump and his officials kept quiet about the bombing in Venezuela, someone with insider knowledge about the bombing likely took advantage of the situation and made a fortune.
