Title: Polymarket faces backlash over 'sick' California wildfire markets
Author: Protos Staff
Translator: Ashley, BlockBeats
Editor's Note: The article criticizes the prediction market platform Polymarket for the controversy caused by users speculating on the California wildfires. Against the backdrop of multiple deaths and hundreds of thousands of evacuations, users have been coldly betting on the development of the disaster, with some prediction pools reaching up to $100,000. This 'gamification' of a public disaster has sparked strong moral outrage.
Backlash over 'gamification' of wildfires
Polymarket is currently facing widespread criticism for its 'sickening' prediction markets related to the raging California wildfires.
The latest wildfire broke out in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday and quickly spread across Los Angeles. To date, the five deadly wildfires have led to the evacuation of over 137,000 people, and 5 people have unfortunately died.
Many Polymarket users have taken the opportunity to create multiple prediction markets on the fire's spread, when it will be brought under control, and potential political resignations. Some markets have already reached trading volumes of nearly $100,000.
However, many netizens are not buying into these markets and Polymarket's promotion. One X platform user bluntly stated: "Betting on wildfires is really sick." Another user said that betting on such a tragedy is "unacceptably shameless no matter what."
Some users are also concerned that the wildfire prediction markets could encourage arsonists to increase the success rate of their bets. One user pointed out that the odds of these markets are entirely based on the emotions of gamblers, and in response to a Polymarket post, stated: "No, there is no '48% chance it will spread', there is only 48% of people betting that it will happen."
For Polymarket, such strong opposition is nothing new. Last year, the platform faced similar criticism for allowing users to bet on whether the Titan submersible would explode and kill 5 passengers.
To mitigate its own responsibility in at least 10 different wildfire markets, Polymarket has added a brief disclaimer claiming it utilizes "collective intelligence" to create "accurate and objective event predictions." The statement says: "The devastating Pacific Palisades wildfire is one such event, and Polymarket can provide valuable real-time answers to those directly affected in a way traditional media cannot."
It's worth noting that if you are actually affected by the wildfires, it's more reliable to rely on news outlets actively reporting the events rather than crypto prediction websites.
Crypto companies close to the fires
In addition to threatening millions of Californians, the rapidly spreading wildfires also pose a serious threat to several crypto companies and prominent community members. Many have already lost their homes and belongings, including precious hardware wallets.
Employees of the Santa Monica Bitcoin Office are located south of the Palisades and Sunset fires. Swan Bitcoin, which has held the Pacific Bitcoin conference in Santa Monica, also has multiple employees in the southern fire zones.
BlockDaemon, a blockchain service provider, is headquartered in Los Angeles, as is the crypto game developer SuperVerse. SpringLabs, a blockchain-based identity and tokenization company, is based in nearby Marina del Ray.
Some companies have been relatively fortunate. As of now, the Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles has not been affected by the fires. The crypto entertainment venues DaBank and Jungla in Hawthorne and North Hollywood have also been spared by the wildfires so far.
