Indonesia has blocked access to Polymarket, classifying the crypto prediction market as an illegal online gambling platform.
The Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs cut access to polymarket.com after the platform drew local attention for markets tied to Indonesian political outcomes, including whether President Prabowo Subianto would leave office before the end of his term.
Polymarket lets users trade event-based contracts using crypto, with prices reflecting market-implied probabilities. Indonesian authorities treated that structure as gambling rather than financial forecasting, placing the platform inside the country’s wider crackdown on online betting.
The decision follows India’s recent restrictions on prediction-market access. India moved against Polymarket and Kalshi under online-gaming and betting rules, making Indonesia the second major Asian market in recent days to block or restrict access to Polymarket. CryptoAdventure covered the earlier India Polymarket block as regulators stepped up pressure on prediction markets.
Political Markets Trigger Fresh Scrutiny
The Indonesian block came after Polymarket hosted a market on whether Prabowo would leave office before 2029. The market attracted relatively small trading volume, but the topic made the platform politically sensitive in a country with strict restrictions on gambling.
Indonesia has been intensifying enforcement against online betting sites, payment flows and platforms that give users access to wagering products. The Polymarket decision places prediction markets directly inside that enforcement category, even when contracts are framed as information markets rather than casino-style games.
The classification raises the central regulatory problem for crypto prediction markets. Platforms can describe themselves as forecasting tools, but governments can still treat paid event contracts as betting when users risk money on political, sports or economic outcomes.
That pressure has already reached the United States. Lawmakers recently opened scrutiny into Kalshi and Polymarket over insider-trading risk, focusing on access controls, sensitive markets and whether event-contract platforms can prevent unfair trading.
Prediction Markets Face Asia Crackdown
The Indonesia and India moves show how quickly prediction-market access can narrow when regulators classify event contracts as gambling.
For Polymarket, Asia is becoming a tougher operating zone. India’s action targeted prediction and betting platforms under domestic online-gaming rules, while Indonesia’s block cited illegal online gambling. Both markets are large, mobile-first and crypto-aware, but both now create enforcement risk for platforms offering real-money event contracts.
The timing also matters because prediction markets have been expanding deeper into crypto trading infrastructure. Hyperliquid recently added canonical outcome markets for offchain events, while other platforms are testing macro, sports and political contracts as a new trading category.
Polymarket’s next challenge is not only user growth. The platform now faces a widening legal split between markets that treat event contracts as regulated financial products, jurisdictions that classify them as gambling, and countries that block access outright. Indonesia’s decision adds another major test for prediction markets as crypto trading, political forecasting and online betting rules continue to collide.
