Comer Urges Restrictions on Prediction-Market Trading by Officials

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer has called for new restrictions on government officials’ trading prediction markets, with an outright ban among the possibilities under consideration. Crypto.news reported that the committee’s position followed an investigation involving 1,700 pages of documents, while The Block described the action as a push to limit officials’ use of these markets. The committee’s concern centers on public-sector participants and the information they may possess. Decrypt reported that a House Oversight staff memorandum cited suspicious trades involving government officials, military personnel and people holding security clearances. The memorandum recommends that Congress consider new limits for federal personnel using prediction-market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket. All three outlets corroborate the core development: Comer and the committee are calling for tighter controls or a potential prohibition, rather than merely offering general guidance for government trading. The difference is mainly in detail and emphasis. Crypto.news supplies the 1,700-page document review, Decrypt identifies the groups cited in the staff memorandum and names the platforms, and The Block summarizes the committee’s position without reporting additional figures. The proposal places prediction markets in the same broader debate over conflicts of interest and whether government-linked information could give certain participants an advantage. The supplied coverage does not identify any specific trade, quantify losses or gains, say that manipulation occurred, or indicate that Congress has enacted a ban. It also does not establish which restrictions would apply to active-duty military personnel, clearance holders or other federal employees beyond Decrypt’s report that the staff memorandum raised those categories for Congress to consider. Prediction-market activity remains substantial despite the policy debate. DeFiLlama data places Polymarket’s total value locked at $320.13 million, down 0.5% over seven days. The wider crypto market was broadly lower, with total capitalization at $2.36 trillion and Bitcoin down 4.63% over 24 hours; the Fear & Greed index stood at 20, categorized as extreme fear. The development itself does not specify the scope of any restrictions, so the policy language, covered personnel and treatment of existing positions are the relevant details to watch.