On the 21st floor of the luxurious Oceania Business Plaza, in the financial heart of Panama City, the desks are empty and the silence is broken only by the staff of a law firm.
According to official records, the operational heart of Polymarket, the predictions platform that moves billions of dollars in bets on the future of the world, should beat here. However, when reporters knocked on the door, the response was disconcerting: “We’ve never heard of Polymarket.”
This discrepancy between dazzling digital success and physical inertia opened a thorny debate in the country about the so-called “paper companies”. Polymarket, according to report, landed legally in Panama under the name Adventure One QSS Inc. after an eventful passage through the United States, where in 2022 it paid a fine of $1.4 million to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for operating without registration.
However, his office is nothing more than the legal domicile of the García de Paredes Abogados firm, a legal practice that today clashes with new demands for transparency.
Although the NPR report focused on Polymarket, the resident agent figure allows a single address (such as the 21st floor of the Oceania Business Plaza) to legally house hundreds or even thousands of companies. It is not public data that is easy to quantify without access to the Public Registry, but it is a systemic practice where the office does not belong to the company, it belongs to the law firm that represents them.
Paradoxically, while in Panama his presence is barely a trace of ink, Shayne Coplan, CEO of Polymarket, was recruited in February 2026 by the CFTC itself to join its new Financial Innovation Advisory Committee, sitting alongside the sector’s elite to redesign market surveillance, as reported by CriptoNoticias at the time.
This recognition in the high regulatory spheres of the United States contrasts with the shadow of suspicion that still hangs over corporate structures in the isthmus. For local analysts, institutional legitimacy does not eliminate the urgency of reviewing how these platforms operate behind the scenes.
So far, there are no public plans. Polymarket has maintained a low profile regarding its infrastructure in Panama. Their strategy seems to be one of minimum legal compliance: as long as the current law does not require employees or square meters, they have no financial incentive to change their offshore model for a traditional office model.
The weight of economic substance in Panama
Rodrigo Icaza, president of the Digital and Blockchain Chamber of Panama, explained exclusively to CriptoNoticias that this case revives the ghosts of the Panama Papers, although under a different legal framework.
Icaza highlighted:
Many cryptocurrency companies register due to Panama’s legal flexibility, but do not operate or provide services in the country. The key debate now is economic substance; If a project does not demonstrate real operation in the country, a passive income tax of 15% is estimated to prevent the registration figure from being used to avoid tax commitments.
Rodrigo Icaza.
This analysis coincides with a reform to the tax code that the Executive sent to the National Assembly in extraordinary sessions, with the aim of guaranteeing that the country generates tangible income from these digital startups.
Currently, under the principle of territoriality, these companies do not pay taxes in Panama if their income is generated outside their territory, which according to deputies like Eduardo Gaitánprovides little economic benefit and little local employment.
If the legislative proposal becomes law, companies or startups would have to demonstrate economic substance in Panama, that is, real operation in the country. Otherwise, a 15% passive income tax would be estimated, which would impact digital asset companies in terms of costs. The purpose is to guarantee income for the country and prevent the figure of registrations in Panama from being used to avoid fiscal and tax commitments.
Rodrigo Icaza.
This phenomenon exposes a head-on collision between the traditional economy, anchored in presence, and a digital era where virtual assistants provide services and get paid in cryptocurrencies without physical borders.
For Icaza, this convergence of concepts is what today forces the debate on the economic substance in the National Assembly, which has extended its functions to an extraordinary period to decide the future of this law.
The result of this legislative discussion will mark a before and after in the cost structure for companies in the sector, determining whether Panama manages to integrate these new forms of economic activity or if the tax burden will limit its competitiveness in the global ecosystem.