- Jurors in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial are expected to deliver a verdict this week.
- People are placing bets on the outcome on Polymarket, a crypto-based marketplace.
- Bettors expect jurors to deliver a guilty verdict.
As presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump awaits a verdict in his hush-money trial, a handful of crypto bettors have made up their mind.
Polymarket’s “Trump found guilty in hush money case?″ market now has $115,000 on the line, with bettors putting the odds of a guilty verdict at 78%.
That’s actually declined since the trial began in April, when bettors on Polymarket put the odds that Trump would be found guilty at 83%.
Polymarket creates betting markets with simple, binary options, such as “ETH above $2,000 on June 30?”
Bettors buy shares whose price reflects an outcome’s odds at the time of purchase. In the case of the Trump trial, bettors could buy “yes” shares for $0.78 Thursday. Those shares would be worth $1 if they were right — in other words, if Trump is found guilty — and nothing if they were wrong.
Closing arguments in Trump’s case began Tuesday, and jurors began their deliberations on Wednesday.
Prosecutors have accused the former president of falsifying business records in connection with hush-money payments made to retired porn star Stormy Daniels.
According to Daniels, she and Trump had an affair in 2006. Trump has denied the allegation.
In the days before the 2016 election that brought Trump to the White House, Michael Cohen, then one of Trump’s attorneys, paid Daniels $130,000 to buy her silence.
Trump, in turn, repaid Cohen. That’s where his legal troubles start: According to prosecutors, Trump deliberately — and illegally — labeled the payments as “legal expenses” in an effort to conceal the hush-money payments.
Trump faces 34 felony counts in the case. If convicted, Trump faces probation or up to four years in prison, according to the New York Times.
Crypto market movers
- Bitcoin is up 2.1% in the last 24 hours to $68,700.
- Ethereum has risen 1% over the same period to about $3,780.
What we’re reading
- Vitalik Buterin’s $112,000 Tornado Cash donation is just one part of his fight for crypto privacy — DL News.
- The Best Solana Wallets Of 2024 — Milk Road.
- Ethereum ETFs Likely Protect Ether From the SEC. But What About Staked ETH? — Unchained.
- Crypto Tax Loss Harvesting — Milk Road.
- Is Bitcoin on balance sheets the new trend? Wall Street experts weigh in — DL News.
Aleks Gilbert is a DeFi correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Reach out at aleks@dlnews.com.
