NPR visited Polymarket’s listed Panama HQ at Oceania Business Plaza and found only a law firm with no trace of the company.
Key Takeaways
Polymarket (est. $15B valuation) registered as Adventure One QSS Inc. at a Panama City law office shared by 15+ other crypto firms including Helix, Drift Protocol, and Goldfinch.
The same law office appears in FTX bankruptcy filings as an unpaid creditor owed $13,889.
Panama offers zero income tax on foreign-sourced revenue, no capital gains tax, and strong resistance to enforcing foreign court judgements.
Polymarket trades $8B+ monthly, remains technically banned for US users under its 2022 CFTC settlement, yet offers view-only access and relies on VPN self-prohibition for enforcement.
A US Army soldier was indicted for allegedly using a VPN to place $33,000 in bets on Polymarket while stationed in North Carolina, netting over $400,000 on insider military knowledge.
Hacker News Comment Review
Dominant commenter reaction is that shell-company registered addresses are standard corporate practice (Delaware warehouses, registered agents) and NPR is framing routine incorporation as a scandal.
A countervailing thread notes the Delaware analogy breaks down because Polymarket is specifically prohibited from US operations, making actual US-based control a potential regulatory violation, not just a tax move.
Some commenters frame the real story as a US regulatory failure: onshore legalization would give regulators jurisdiction and users protection, rather than pushing volume to opaque offshore structures.
Notable Comments
@raddan: argues Polymarket’s likely US operational presence, combined with its federal ban, makes this a potential securities or gambling violation beyond mere tax planning.
@xiphias2: “There’s an easy way for polymarket to have a nice office… legalize it there” – frames offshore structure as a direct consequence of US regulatory overreach.
