JPMorgan Chase closed Polymarket’s bank account in late 2025, telling the prediction market platform in October that year it needed to find a new bank, according to the Financial Times.
The same bank that closed the account is still trying to win Polymarket’s business. JPMorgan wants to remain in contention to underwrite a future Polymarket initial public offering, and invited chief executive Shayne Coplan to speak at a private-client conference in Miami, where he appeared alongside Tom Brady.
The company told the Financial Times its relationship with JPMorgan has stayed “close and active across multiple entities, operational integrations and the handling of customer funds,” and said it kept doing business with the bank through other arrangements after the account closed.
JPMorgan’s view of Bitcoin also extends to Strategy’s new monetization framework, which analysts say could create “two-way risk” if the company sells BTC. The potential for Bitcoin sales adds another source of uncertainty to crypto markets, reinforcing the bank’s cautious outlook on digital assets beyond Bitcoin.
- Jan. 2022: CFTC fines Polymarket’s parent, Blockratize, $1.4 million and bars it from U.S. customers for running an unregistered derivatives platform.
- Oct. 2025: JPMorgan tells Polymarket it needs to find a new bank.
- Late 2025: JPMorgan’s account with Polymarket closes; Polymarket lines up an alternative, unnamed lender.
- Late 2025: CFTC approves Polymarket‘s return to U.S. customers on an intermediated basis.
- Feb. 2026: JPMorgan invites Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan to speak at its Miami private-client conference, alongside Tom Brady.
- June 2026: A broader CFTC investigation into Polymarket’s operations becomes public.
- Aug. 2026: Polymarket is reportedly in talks to raise over $1 billion at a valuation above $20 billion, up from $15 billion four months earlier.
- Aug. 2026: Financial Times reports the closed account alongside JPMorgan’s continued interest in underwriting a Polymarket IPO.
Two arms of the same bank, two different calls
JPMorgan closing a bank account over “regulatory concerns” is a narrower call than deciding whether to help take a company public. A transaction account can be closed the moment a compliance officer decides the paperwork does not clear. An underwriting mandate is a bet placed years in advance on how a regulatory situation resolves.
| Banking / Compliance Relationship | Capital-Markets Relationship |
|---|---|
| Told Polymarket in October 2025 to find a new bank | Continued cultivating its relationship with Polymarket |
| Business bank account closed in late 2025 | JPMorgan reportedly wants to remain in contention for a Polymarket IPO underwriting role |
| Reason cited: regulatory concerns | Shayne Coplan was invited to JPMorgan’s Miami private-client conference |
| Polymarket moved to another banking partner | Polymarket says the relationship remained “close and active” |
| Account-level banking relationship changed | Other operational and customer-funds relationships continued, according to Polymarket |
JPMorgan is making both calls on the same client at the same time, and it did not extend the same courtship to another crypto figure it cut off around the same period: Strike chief executive Jack Mallers, whose personal accounts JPMorgan closed in September 2025 citing a Bank Secrecy Act review and no specific wrongdoing.
Mallers said the bank would not tell him why:
“Every time I asked them why, they said the same thing: ‘We aren’t allowed to tell you.'”
There was no parallel business relationship for JPMorgan to preserve in that case. With Polymarket, there was, and the bank kept it running.
Polymarket vs. the Strike case
| Polymarket | Jack Mallers (Strike) | |
|---|---|---|
| JPMorgan action | Closed Polymarket’s business bank account | Closed Mallers’ personal accounts |
| When | Notice Oct. 2025; closed late 2025 | September 2025 |
| Stated reason | Regulatory concerns | Bank Secrecy Act review; no specific wrongdoing cited |
| Parallel business relationship? | Yes – JPMorgan pursuing IPO underwriting role | None identified |
| On-record response | Polymarket: relationship “close and active across multiple entities” | Mallers: bank would not explain the closure |
The company is reportedly in talks to raise more than $1 billion at a valuation above $20 billion, up from roughly $15 billion four months earlier. A public listing, if it happens, would settle the question JPMorgan is currently straddling: whether a bank can treat a client as too risky to hold deposits for while still wanting to be paid to bring it to market.
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