Polymarket confirms theft from internal wallet after private key breach

A suspected security breach involving the prediction market platform Polymarket resulted in the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars from an internal wallet this week. The incident, first flagged by blockchain investigator ZachXBT, involved a compromised private key linked to the platform's rewards infrastructure on the Polygon blockchain.

Polymarket developers confirmed the breach, stating it was isolated to an internal operations wallet used for reward payouts. They emphasized that user funds, market settlements, and the platform's core smart contracts were not affected. According to the developers, findings point to a private key compromise of a wallet used for internal top-up operations, not contracts or core infrastructure.

On-chain analytics provided a detailed picture of the attack. Data from platforms including Bubblemaps indicated the attacker drained approximately 5,000 POL tokens every 30 seconds before the activity stopped. The total loss was estimated at between $520,000 and $700,000, with the stolen funds split across at least 15 addresses and subsequently routed through centralized exchanges.

Security experts who reviewed the incident supported the developer's...