France blocked Polymarket after its transaction controls failed to stop 578,751 new French visitors

An important story is making waves across the blockchain ecosystem. France's gambling regulator ordered internet service providers to block access to Polymarket, the crypto prediction-market platform, escalating beyond a transaction geofence that it said had been circumvented in practice. The Autorité nationale des jeux published the order on July 17, arguing that Polymarket's website promoted an unauthorized gambling offering even where the earlier restriction was meant to stop financial transactions from France. The regulator said, citing Similarweb, that the site drew 578,751 visits and 205,057 unique visitors from France in June 2026.

Those figures help explain why France moved from asking the operator to restrict transactions to directing the country's access providers to close the main website. The escalation also exposes a crucial limit to the idea that an onchain market is beyond national reach: settlement can occur on a blockchain, while mainstream users still depend on the website and operator-controlled systems to discover markets and submit orders. A geofence that did not end the audience The escalation was not France's first intervention.

Market Dynamics

In November 2024, the ANJ said it had approached Adventure One QSS Inc. , the Panamanian company it identified as Polymarket's operator, after concluding that the platform's services could qualify as unauthorized gambling under French law. Adventure One then installed a geoblock that the regulator initially described as preventing bets from France.

Related Reading Polymarket blocks French users amid regulatory probe Polymarket has chosen a cautious approach toward compliance as French authorities scrutinize its operations amid soaring user interest. Nov 22, 2024 Assad Jafri The ANJ's July 2026 notice framed the new order as the next step in that same case. It said the earlier control prevented financial transactions from French territory but led to workarounds in practice.

The Polymarket homepage nevertheless continued to display live odds to a large French audience. A control that rejects new transactions may reduce direct participation while leaving the site's role in attracting users and circulating betting prices intact. The ANJ said the homepage's dynamically updated odds made it a major channel for promoting an activity it considers illegal.

Market Impact

French law gives the regulator a route to act against that interface. After statutory notice and response periods, Article 61 allows the ANJ to order access providers to prevent access to specified illegal online interfaces and to require search engines or directories to stop referencing them. The regulator said it blocked 1,290 URLs associated with illegal gambling in 2025 using this process.

The result is a wider distribution sanction. Instead of relying on the platform to decide which transactions to reject, France can pressure the domestic networks and discovery services that connect a mainstream audience to the platform. The ANJ has grounded its case in gambling law rather than the use of cryptocurrency.

Its 2024 notice said the intervention concerned the broader gambling character of the offering. Its February 2026 policy statement expanded that rationale. The regulator classifies prediction markets as unauthorized gambling in France and says they combine continuous access and viral distribution with fewer protections than licensed operators.

This shift continues to shape the digital-asset landscape, with analysts examining its near-term effects.