[Australian Regulator: Polymarket Blocked, No Prediction Market Operators Have Applied for Licenses] Odaily Planet Daily reports that Sarah Court, Chairperson of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), stated at a parliamentary hearing on Thursday that the agency has not received any applications from prediction market operators. She pointed out that such platforms in Australia may face gambling regulations rather than financial market regulations, and any application for an operating license will be subject to rigorous scrutiny. Court stated that the trading mechanism of prediction markets is similar to binary options, which are banned in Australia, with a win-or-lose outcome, and the underlying assets are often unrelated to investment or financial markets. She also noted that while Australian users can directly access these overseas platforms, they are not protected by local financial regulations and have difficulty obtaining dispute resolution and customer fund protection measures. In August of this year, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) requested internet service providers to block the Polymarket website and listed it as an illegal online gambling site. (Bloomberg)