Zelenskyy's suit becomes the center of big controversy on Polymarket

Cryptocurrency Users Bet Millions on Whether Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Outfit "Counts as a Suit", while a Famous Fashion Expert Further Complicates the Situation by Declaring it "Both a Suit and Not a Suit". The Controversy Erupted from the Outfit at the NATO Conference President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's outfit at the NATO meeting on June 24 in the Netherlands became a fierce point of contention among players on Polymarket - a crypto-based prediction platform. A user created a betting market asking whether Zelenskyy would wear a suit before July. To determine the result, a photo or video showing him wearing a suit between May 22 and June 30 was required. The market recorded a trading volume of nearly 79 million USD. The initial result was determined as "Yes", but was subsequently challenged twice and is currently awaiting a final decision. On July 1, Polymarket acknowledged the controversy and stated they had "no clear consensus from reliable sources confirming that Zelenskyy wore a suit". What Constitutes a Suit? The debate focused on defining what a suit is: Would Zelenskyy's outfit be considered a suit if he wore a black jacket, collared shirt, and long pants, but with sneakers? Supporters argued that the outfit had similar material, color, and style to a suit, and that style or tailoring details were not crucial. Conversely, opponents argued it was just a black shirt with an ordinary jacket, not a traditional suit jacket, and that sneakers made it impossible to call it a complete suit. A Polymarket community account on X - Polymarket Intel - declared that the Ukrainian President's outfit was indeed a suit. However, when asked by Cointelegraph, ChatGPT argued it was not considered a suit due to missing key traditional suit elements. It more closely resembled a military or tactical jacket. Canadian menswear commentator Derek Guy further complicated the situation on June 26 by saying he thought Zelenskyy's outfit was "both a suit and not a suit". Not the First Controversy Previously, a similar betting market on Polymarket closed on May 31, also causing controversy about the exact same outfit Zelenskyy wore at a meeting in Germany. Ultimately, Polymarket determined it was not a suit. Derek Guy then argued the opposite, stating that technically, Zelenskyy was wearing a vest - because the definition of a vest is simply "a jacket and pants made from the same type of fabric". Zelenskyy was previously criticized for not wearing a vest during formal meetings with world leaders. He had said that he would only wear a vest when the war with Russia ends (according to Politico on March 22). The Ukrainian media The Kyiv Independent had also reported that he prefers to wear military-style clothing because "if he wore a vest, it would mean he acknowledges the war has ended". Polymarket has been involved in multiple controversies this year, such as the TikTok ban betting in January. Although the platform was banned, users could still access it when the market was closed, leading to disputes about how to determine the result. Polymarket uses the UMA protocol to provide external data to verify actual events and decide market results. However, UMA was previously accused of manipulation, such as in the $7 million Ukrainian mineral agreement betting in March. A Thursday report from the blockchain-based economic data platform Truf.Network suggested that fact verification is challenging because the entire market depends on "data trust" - which is often "fragmented, unverifiable, and easily manipulated". "It doesn't matter who decides the truth, but whether everyone can verify it. When no one can verify prices, who wins, what the score is, or even whether it rained yesterday - the market itself will collapse." "If the person verifying the result is also the one betting, the truth becomes debatable."