NPR went looking for Polymarket's Panama headquarters. It's elusive

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https://www.npr.org/2026/05/05/nx-s1-5807918/polymarket-panama-prediction-market
Bobby Allyn, Eliana Morales Gil

Polymarket claims its headquarters is on the 21st floor of the Oceania Business Plaza. So do more than a dozen other crypto companies. But the address leads to a law firm.

PANAMA CITY -- On the 21st floor of a gleaming skyscraper in the heart of the upscale Punta Pacifica neighborhood here is the official corporate office of Polymarket, the wildly popular prediction market site that has flourished in President Trump's second term.

Polymarket, which is worth an estimated $15 billion, moved to its Panama base following scrutiny from American regulators. If Polymarket users have a legal dispute, the company's terms of service states it will be resolved in a closed-door arbitration process in Panama.

But when NPR recently visited the law office listed as its home base in Panamanian government documents, there was no sign of Polymarket, nor the entity it does business as in Panama, Adventure One QSS Inc.

Instead, a nondescript corporate lobby opened into a large space with about a dozen unoccupied computer stations positioned in the middle of the room. An office worker said the attorney who runs the firm, Mario García de Paredes, was not available. The worker had never heard of Polymarket or Adventure One.

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1. Some additional content for context.

The Panama advantage: Tax-free with legal perks

A decade ago, the Panama Papers, an international investigative reporting project, illuminated how the ultra-rich conceal their wealth in off-shore tax havens, like the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Panama.

Polymarket has long had an office in New York City's Upper East Side and has never misrepresented its presence in Panama, where the company does not have any employees.

Still, in response to NPR's questions, Polymarket would not specify why it chose Panama as its legal residence.

Lawyers who help American companies set up Panamanian subsidiaries pointed to the benefits cited most frequently by U.S. firms.