Taiwan Blocks Coinbase and Kalshi as Election Betting Crackdown Widens

Court restrictions arrive before November local elections

Taiwan has blocked domestic access to Coinbase and Kalshi over suspected election betting, extending a crackdown that has already produced searches, cryptocurrency seizures and a prosecution involving rival prediction platform Polymarket. Some Coinbase users began encountering a court notice instead of the website on October 14, 2026, ahead of local elections on November 28.

The New Taipei District Court approved a request from the Criminal Investigation Bureau allowing communications regulators and internet registration authorities to restrict access to the two platforms. The bureau cited suspected violations of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act and said the restrictions were intended to protect election integrity and prevent overseas interference.

Visitors to coinbase.com were redirected to a notice identifying the court and criminal case number 115年度聲扣字第55號. Screenshots from different devices and browsers displayed the same reference. The order came from the court, rather than the New Taipei City Government, as some social media posts had suggested.

The restrictions bring together two businesses with different main activities. Coinbase operates a cryptocurrency exchange, while Kalshi runs prediction markets, where customers trade contracts whose payouts depend on whether an event happens. Coinbase also offers prediction products through a partnership with Kalshi.

Taiwan's enforcement reaches beyond website access. Prosecutors have pursued residents accused of betting cryptocurrency on which party will win the most mayoral seats, as well as on individual city races. Those cases show how authorities are applying election gambling rules to both platforms and the people using them.

What Taiwan's election law prohibits

Article 103-1 of the election and recall law, published on the Taipei City Government legal database, expressly covers gambling on election or recall results through telecommunications equipment, electronic communications, the internet or similar methods. A recall is a vote on whether an elected official should leave office before the end of a term.

People who gamble money or property on those outcomes can face up to six months in prison, detention or a fine of up to NT$100,000. The provision also covers gambling in public places or places open to the public, with an exception for objects used merely for temporary amusement.

Providing a gambling venue or gathering people to gamble on election or recall results for profit carries a heavier penalty: up to five years in prison, with a possible additional fine of up to NT$500,000. The maximum prison term for organizers is ten times the six month maximum for participants, while the maximum fine is five times as large.

A 2023 revision introduced the election betting penalties. The wording matters for users of overseas services because it specifically includes internet gambling. Prosecutors are applying that provision to bets placed with cryptocurrency, including USDC, a digital token designed to track the value of the US dollar.

What Coinbase users encountered

Coinbase access complaints appeared on October 14, with a public post at about 2:49 p.m. Taipei time showing the restriction notice. Other screenshots and testing in Taiwan reproduced the redirect across Android devices and a Brave browser on iOS. The confirmed disruption involved the main coinbase.com domain.

Some users said the Coinbase mobile app continued working. The full reach of the restrictions across the app, software connections known as APIs, and other subdomains remained unconfirmed. The precise contracts behind the investigation and the court's detailed reasoning had also not been publicly explained.

Coinbase's global service status page listed its website and mobile app as operational during the disruption. A global status indicator describes whether a company's systems are running; access within Taiwan also depends on the local network restrictions. The page separately listed delayed transfers on the Celestia and Osmosis networks.

A public Coinbase prediction page included a Taiwan presidential election event identified as KXPRESTAIWAN-28. Taiwan's next presidential election is in 2028, while the November 28 vote concerns local offices. The Criminal Investigation Bureau described suspected election betting without publicly identifying a particular contract.

Coinbase and Kalshi had not immediately responded to requests for comment when the restrictions became public on October 15. For customers, the immediate practical change was that an ordinary attempt to open Coinbase's website could lead to a legal notice rather than the trading interface.

April searches targeted a market covering 22 localities

The Taichung District Prosecutors Office described an earlier investigation into a Polymarket contract titled 2026 Taiwanese Local Elections: Party Winner. According to its election betting statement, the market would settle according to which party won the most county and city mayoral seats across Taiwan's 22 counties and cities.

Prosecutor Weng Chia-lung directed a specialist police team that executed search warrants issued by the Taichung District Court on April 15. Investigators identified four suspected bettors, surnamed Chan, Lin, Hsu and Huang. Prosecutors said they were investigating suspected violations of Article 103-1, paragraph 2, and the internet gambling provision in Article 266, paragraph 2, of the Criminal Code.

The office said participants used USDC to wager on the outcome. A market of this kind turns a political result into a financial condition: the eventual party winner determines which position pays out. Its scope covered the distribution of local executive seats across Taiwan, rather than a single candidate's race.

Taichung prosecutors said rapidly moving cryptocurrency funds, anonymity and difficulties tracing transactions create opportunities for unlawful election gambling. They also argued that changing odds could influence how voters perceive a race. The office said investigators would continue tracing the activity and looking for other people involved.

A prosecution details the money and the alleged workaround

The Ciaotou District Prosecutors Office supplied a more detailed financial account in its election gambling indictment announcement. It said a defendant surnamed Lin had been charged after allegedly using a virtual private network, or VPN, to reach Polymarket from his home in Kaohsiung's Niaosong District.

Prosecutors alleged that Lin used NordVPN in April to make his internet connection appear to originate in Japan. A VPN routes a connection through another server, which can change the location a website sees. The office said he used a MetaMask cryptocurrency wallet and a MAX exchange account to purchase 9,245.01 USDC for betting funds.

Between April 12 and April 14, Lin allegedly wagered 742.9629 USDC, worth about NT$23,457, on positions backing the Kuomintang to win the most seats and rejecting the Democratic Progressive Party as the winner. Police seized 746.79 USDC on April 23 and transferred it to a wallet held through the prosecutors office's virtual asset custody system.

The alleged wagers amounted to about 8% of the 9,245.01 USDC prosecutors said he purchased. The announcement separately identified the amount purchased, the amount wagered and the amount seized, giving a detailed picture of the money investigators followed.

Ciaotou prosecutors described the case as their first election gambling prosecution in that year's election enforcement work. They said the investigation would continue into the funds behind the activity and possible accomplices. The defendant faces allegations under the election law and the Criminal Code's gambling provisions.

October enforcement reached individual city races

Hsinchu prosecutors pursued another resident, surnamed Zhao, who allegedly used cryptocurrency on Polymarket in September to bet on mayoral results in Hsinchu City, Kaohsiung City and Chiayi City. Authorities detained him on October 7 and released him on NT$50,000 bail after questioning.

Prosecutors said the evidence had been secured and that Zhao was suspected of using the internet to gamble on county or city mayoral election results. The case adds individual races to the broader party winner market described by the Taichung and Ciaotou offices.

Polymarket was already blocked in Taiwan before the Coinbase and Kalshi restrictions. A restriction notice seen in May cited the Miaoli District Court and case number 115年聲扣字第4號. The newer Coinbase notice identifies a different court and case number.

The sequence of enforcement and access restrictions spans several months:

• April 12 to 14: Lin allegedly placed 742.9629 USDC in election wagers through Polymarket.
• April 15: Investigators searched in the Taichung case and identified four suspected bettors.
• April 23: Police seized 746.79 USDC in the case later prosecuted by the Ciaotou office.
• May: A Polymarket restriction notice cited a Miaoli District Court order.
• October 7: Hsinchu authorities detained Zhao and released him on NT$50,000 bail.
• October 14 to 15: Coinbase users encountered the New Taipei court notice, and the restrictions affecting Coinbase and Kalshi became public.
• November 28: Taiwan votes in local elections.

Why authorities are treating betting as an election issue

The November 28 elections will fill offices including mayors, city councilors and village chiefs. They will be the first electoral test across Taiwan for President Lai Ching-te since he took office in 2024, and the results could offer an indication of party strength before the 2028 presidential election.

Taiwanese authorities have expressed concern that money from mainland China could enter through illicit financial networks and influence elections. The Criminal Investigation Bureau cited prevention of overseas interference in seeking the website restrictions. Authorities have made no allegation that Coinbase or Kalshi handled funds from China.

The prosecutors offices in Taichung and Ciaotou connect their gambling investigations to concerns about voter perceptions and money moving across borders. Their stated concern is that a market's changing prices can shape expectations about who is winning, while cryptocurrency allows betting funds to move quickly between jurisdictions.

Both offices publicized rewards of up to NT$5 million for reporting election gambling and up to NT$20 million for reporting election interference by overseas forces. They directed residents to the Ministry of Justice reporting line, 0800-024-099, option 4, and said informant identities would be kept confidential.

Kalshi faces a different legal fight in the United States

Kalshi is also contesting restrictions in the United States. In August, a Washington state judge ordered it to stop offering prediction markets on sports, elections and other categories to state residents, finding violations of the state's Gambling Act and Consumer Protection Act.

Nevada imposed similar restrictions in July, and New York's attorney general sued the company that month. Kalshi disagreed with the Washington ruling and maintained that the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over its exchange.

The American dispute concerns which regulator has authority over Kalshi and how state gambling laws apply to its contracts. Taiwan's action centers on its explicit prohibition against betting on election and recall outcomes, including through the internet. Customers in Taiwan face that domestic law when using platforms based overseas.

Taiwan's next major date is November 28. Before voters choose local officials, the enforcement campaign has already affected website access, led to the seizure of digital assets and brought criminal allegations against residents accused of placing election bets.

Key Points

• Taiwan restricted access to Coinbase and Kalshi following a New Taipei District Court order sought by the Criminal Investigation Bureau.
• Coinbase users began seeing a restriction notice on October 14, 2026; the confirmed disruption involved coinbase.com.
• Internet election betting can carry up to six months in prison. Organizing it for profit can carry up to five years.
• Prosecutors have investigated Polymarket users over both a party winner market covering 22 counties and cities and individual mayoral races.
• A Ciaotou prosecution concerns alleged wagers totaling 742.9629 USDC; police seized 746.79 USDC.
• Taiwan's local elections take place on November 28, ahead of the next presidential election in 2028.