Zelenskyy Person of the Year 2022 on Polymarket

Zelenskyy Person of the Year 2022 on Polymarket

In the early days of Polymarket and its oracle, UMA, there was one market that stayed in the memory of countless early traders, including Polynoob.
The market was simple in appearance but incredibly complex in interpretation: Will Volodymyr Zelenskyy be the 2022 TIME Person of the Year

That year TIME announced the winner as Volodymyr Zelenskyy and The Spirit of Ukraine.
What should have been a clear outcome instantly became one of the most controversial debates in the early history of Polymarket.

Initially, the market was proposed to resolve to NO, but this decision was immediately disputed, generating a heated discussion particularly about the exclusivity of the title. The central problem was whether Zelenskyy was the sole nominee or not.

Two Opposing Factions (YES)

The yes group thought that TIME announced that “Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Spirit of Ukraine” would be recognized as TIME’s Person of the Year for 2022. There are two parts to the winner explicitly Zelenskyy, and the people of Ukraine in general.

The rules stated that if “Volodymyr Zelenskyy is named as TIME’s Person of the Year for 2022, this market will resolve to ‘Yes’”. This section is satisfied. However, the rules then state that the market will resolve to “Yes” only if exclusively Volodymyr Zelenskyy is named.

TIME specifically recognized Zelenskyy as the winner and also recognized the people of Ukraine as another winner. Zelenskyy was explicitly named the winner for the first part of the award, and that is how the exclusivity mentioned in the rules should be interpreted.

The NO faction

The correct answer is NO ,they said!, but it didn’t last long

The use of “AND” (or “&”) means it is not exclusively Zelensky. “Person” as used by Time can include a person, a group, an idea, or an object. There were clearly 2 winners: Zelensky AND the Spirit of Ukraine.

The Magazine cover page uses an “&” and depicts multiple people. Time’s Website also has an image of “The Spirit of Ukraine” as the Person of the Year and an article on the people who represent the Spirit of Ukraine.

The clear controlling word in the rule is “Exclusive.”

The title of the Market is “the person” of the year, not “a person” of the year. This market would have probably been trading at 80/90c if “Zelensky + People of Ukraine” was understood to be a YES resolution. That is in fact what happened after the short list came out listing only Zelensky, implying that no one else would be nominated conjointly with him to represent Ukraine.

As usual, it was necessary to understand what to give more importance to: the literal interpretation of the rules, which would favor NO, or the famous “spirit of the market” which would favor YES.

Polynoob was quite confused at the time about this and chose poorly 🙁
was his first UMA dispute

Legendary Traders and a Formative Battle

As in every major dispute of that era, two factions emerged.
And as always, some of the traders involved would later become famous names in the community.

Figures like aenews2, Domer and 50Pence, argued passionately on opposite sides, each defending their interpretation of the rules.
These debates became the foundation of many early friendships, rivalries, and lessons on poly.

Why This Market Matters Today

For modern Polymarket traders, the Zelenskyy TIME Person of the Year dispute offers valuable lessons:

• Read Rules Carefully: Always analyze market rules for potential ambiguities before taking large positions. Look for edge cases the creator might not have considered.
• Consider Both Interpretations: When rules are ambiguous, consider how both a literal and a spirit-based interpretation might play out in a dispute.
• Watch for Precedents: Historical disputes like this one inform how future similar situations might be resolved. The community tends to favor resolutions that align with market intent over technicalities.
• Participate in Governance: If you hold UMA tokens or participate in dispute resolution, your vote matters in shaping how these edge cases are handled.
• Accept Uncertainty: Some markets will always have irreducible ambiguity. Factor this resolution risk into your position sizing.

At the time, many considered this decision in favor of YES to be clearly contrary to the rules.

Conclusion: Zelenskyy Person of the Year 2022 on Polymarket

The “Will Volodymyr Zelenskyy be the 2022 TIME Person of the Year?” market remains one of the most important disputes in Polymarket’s short history. It tested the limits of natural language in prediction markets, the effectiveness of decentralized oracle systems, and the community’s ability to make nuanced judgments about market intent.

For those who debated passionately on Discord servers, this market represents a formative moment when Poly evolved from a simple betting platform into a sophisticated prediction market with complex governance challenges.

The market taught the community that sometimes the “right” answer isn’t found in the literal words of the rules, but in the reasonable expectations of participants and the spirit of what was being asked. While Polynoob chose poorly at the time, the lesson learned was invaluable: in prediction markets, as in life, context and intent matter as much as explicit rules.

This dispute will be remembered as a defining moment when Polymarket’s community decided that common sense and market spirit should prevail over technical loopholes, a principle that continues to guide dispute resolution to this day.