According to the report, the access block on Polymarket, a blockchain-based forecasting market system, has been fully implemented by Indonesia’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Communications in May 22.
Wagering money is considered illegal under Indonesia government law, and the administration under Prabowo has classified online betting as a social harm that must be restricted.
The real-time trigger was a Polymarket contract which enables users to bet. The market generated more than $46,000 in trading volume on contracts associated on the following dates, such as May 31, June 30, and December 31, 2026. Traders valued the possibility of Prabowo’s early departure at 1%, 2%, and 18%. The ministry’s report did not point directly to the presidential contract but described the system as wagering money on uncertain outcomes.
During the announcement, Alexander Sabal, Director of the Directorate General of Digital Space Supervision at the ministry, noted that “Although blockchain or cryptocurrencies are utilized, risking money on particular outcomes is considered gambling.”
Polymarket enables users to trade contracts linked to real-world activities, such as elections, sports, crypto prices, and political outcomes. The system has increased activity in the crypto market outlook. However, regulators in some jurisdictions have intervened in gambling-related activity rather than financial-market activity.
Furthermore, several countries, such as Singapore, Brazil, and India, have fully adopted and implemented the blocked access to PolyMarket, while Taiwan, Thailand, China, and Japan have adopted the partial access restrictions under their regulatory framework. Brazil have also enforced restrictions on Polymarket and Kalsi in April as a result to violation of local financial regulations and issues across investor protection.
The ministry aims to implement standardized tracking and limitations across social media accounts, aside with ongoing implementation of blocking access to websites linked with Polymarket.
Polymarket Seeks Regulatory Approval in Japan While Increasing Geographic Restrictions
Last week, Polymarket announced scheduled a representative and is developing regulatory engagement targeted the approval in Japan, according to Bloomberg.
The regulatory advocacy efforts target possible approval by the Japanese government by 2030. The report also noted that Mike Aidlin has been appointed as the Japan representative for the Solana-based DeFi project Jupiter.
Toshigo Inoue, Director of the Planning and Market Bureau at the Financial Services Agency, noted that market activity in this industry must be managed with major caution in connection to gambling and increasing potential insider trading risks.
Overall, Polymarket has included Japan in its geographic restriction policy, limiting front-end trading access across 33 countries by categorizing market activity as gambling or unregulated wagering, instead of engaging with legal distinctions between forecasting and wagering activities. This approach establishes DNS-level blocking as the core strategy, following the path of least resistance, although it has minimal effectiveness in blocking users from accessing the system through VPNs.
