Polymarket is blocked by the Miaoli Court! The developer recounts accidentally triggering Taiwan's election system "woken up" by the police

Polymarket was blocked by the court in Taiwan for violating the election and recall law. A developer also came forward, saying their bot mistakenly triggered an election market, which led to an investigation. Police already have cryptocurrency fund-flow tracking capabilities and are urging the public not to break the law.

Polymarket was ruled by the court to be shut down; testing shows it can no longer be accessed

As the 2026 Nine-in-One elections in Taiwan are approaching, Taiwan-related election betting markets have appeared on the blockchain prediction platform Polymarket. Then, multiple Taiwanese participants who placed bets were arrested by the police and even prosecuted.

In early May this year, netizens began reporting that the Polymarket website had been blocked. When users try to access the site through Taiwan’s mobile data network or WiFi, the page displays a warning message: “This domain is suspected of violating the Civil Service Election and Recall Law, and has been ordered to be blocked by a criminal ruling issued by the Miaoli District Court under Case No. 115 Xing Kou Zi No. 4,” preventing users from entering the site.

The editor of 《Crypto City》 tested today (5/21) by using a mobile data connection to access the site, and the related blocking notice indeed appeared. This is not the first time Polymarket has been blocked. It had been unblocked earlier, but Taiwanese users were only able to view information such as the winning odds and trading volume of each prediction contract, and could not place bets.

Image source: 《Crypto City》 screenshot — Polymarket was ruled by the court to be shut down; testing shows it can no longer be accessed

A developer’s automated trading bot accidentally entered an election market and was called in by police to make a statement

If you previously participated in Polymarket trading via bots, even if you did so unintentionally and did not intend to violate Taiwan’s election-related rules, you still need to be careful about accidental triggers.

Taiwanese developer and founder of SuiXu Intelligence 0xFunky shared in a post yesterday that the automated bot he operated inadvertently triggered market trades related to Taiwan’s elections. The transaction amount was only 3 $USDT. The position was held for less than 5 hours and exited with zero profit, but on the morning of May 19, he was awakened by police and made what was his first statement in his life.

0xFunky advises that developers and users must set keyword filters to ensure related terms such as KMT, Kuomintang, and DPP are truly excluded. Because the market names fetched via API do not display the Taiwan-related wording, additional vigilance is needed for prevention.

Image source: An X post where a Taiwanese developer stated that their automated bot trade on Polymarket’s Taiwan election market was reported to police, leading to a statement being made

Courts in multiple places across Taiwan launched investigations; the Qiaotou District Prosecutors Office filed an indictment as a benchmark case

In April this year, Taiwan’s prosecutors and police launched their first wave of crackdowns on the 2026 Nine-in-One elections, arresting two people who placed bets on party victory probabilities.

Subsequently, on May 8, the Qiaotou District Prosecutors Office indicted a man surnamed Lin after completing investigation and concluding the case. This case is part of the broader crackdown launched by prosecutors and investigators on election betting markets for the Nine-in-One elections, and it is the first benchmark case that has formally entered the judicial prosecution process. It shows that the prosecution authorities have a very hard-line attitude toward law enforcement involving election interference through decentralized platforms.

Image source: Yunlin County Government press release — Taiwan election betting markets on Polymarket

According to court case information compiled by 《Chain News》, courts in Yunlin, Shilin, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Taoyuan, and Taichung all have relevant case ruling records.

• **Related report:**2026 Taiwan election prediction market betting case “officially indicted”: He was arrested after betting 23,000 on Polymarket

Police have the ability to trace cryptocurrency flows—don’t test the law

Many people think that placing bets through a VPN or on blockchain platforms can hide their identity, but police currently already have the capability to trace real identities through transaction flow tracking.

In the post, 0xFunky mentioned that regardless of whether a VPN is used, as long as people complete real-name verification (KYC) on a cryptocurrency exchange, police can retrieve data and trace the wallet holders.

The Yunlin County Police Department previously also stated that they will continue mobilizing investigations and using technological equipment and smart policing to strongly crack down on election betting markets. They stressed that any illegal activity will be investigated strictly and punished severely, and urged citizens not to place bets or gamble to avoid violating the law.