Polymarket 5-Minute Bitcoin Contracts Ignite Manipulation Concerns

On July 11, fresh scrutiny hit Polymarket after reports highlighted how its 5-minute Bitcoin contracts, launched February 12, enable price manipulation via late spot trades against the Chainlink oracle. The development follows the July 7 lawsuit in New York Supreme Court where two traders allege improper settlement of a $797K market on Strategy’s 32 BTC sale by the May 31 deadline. Plaintiffs claim Polymarket retroactively altered rules, finalized the market as “No” on June 3, and now face $4 billion in cumulative volume with retail traders disadvantaged by bots and 1.56% fees.