Polymarket Overrode Its Own Settlement System on $85M Bitcoin Bet

Polymarket scrapped its decentralized oracle (UMA) and rewrote contract terms retroactively on an $85 million bitcoin-sale dispute in May 2026, the Wall Street Journal reports. Traders holding positions under the original language took losses. When stakes dwarf oracle resources, incentives to exploit settlement rules intensify. The move shows why Polymarket's power to override its own system concentrates risk it promised to eliminate.