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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Sara Braun

Mamdani takes sardonic view of Polymarket’s ‘free grocery store’ stunt in New York

a man in a suit stands
Zohran Mamdani in New York City on 21 January 2026. Photograph: Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Zohran Mamdani made city-operated grocery stores a key pledge of his campaign for mayor of New York City. So when one company seemed to muscle in on the idea this week, apparently as a PR stunt, Mamdani was quick to reply.

Polymarket, the cryptocurrency-based prediction market, announced on Tuesday it would be opening “New York City’s first free grocery store,” seemingly a nod to the mayor’s signature policy. In a statement the firm said it hoped to “empower every New Yorker to achieve food security for good”, and that it had donated $1m to the Food Bank for NYC.

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