---
type: entity
entity_type: company
name: "Kalshi"
domain: internet-finance
handles: ["@Kalshi"]
website: https://kalshi.com
status: active
tracked_by: rio
created: 2026-03-11
last_updated: 2026-03-11
founded: 2021-01-01
founders: ["Tarek Mansour", "Luana Lopes Lara"]
category: "Regulated prediction market exchange (CFTC-designated)"
stage: growth
key_metrics:
  monthly_volume_30d: "$6.8B (March 2026)"
  weekly_record: "$5.35B combined with Polymarket (week of March 2-8, 2026)"
competitors: ["[[polymarket]]"]
built_on: ["Traditional finance rails (USD)"]
tags: ["prediction-markets", "event-contracts", "regulated-exchange"]
supports:
- Trump Jr.'s dual investment in Kalshi and Polymarket creates a structural conflict of interest that undermines prediction market regulatory legitimacy regardless of legal merit
reweave_edges:
- Trump Jr.'s dual investment in Kalshi and Polymarket creates a structural conflict of interest that undermines prediction market regulatory legitimacy regardless of legal merit|supports|2026-04-20
---

# Kalshi

## Overview
CFTC-designated contract market for event-based trading. USD-denominated, KYC-required, traditional brokerage integration. Won a landmark federal court case against CFTC to list election contracts. Regulation-first approach targeting institutional and mainstream users — the complement to Polymarket's crypto-native model.

## Current State
- **Volume**: $6.8B 30-day (March 2026) — trails Polymarket's $8.7B but growing fast
- **Regulatory**: Full CFTC designation as contract market. Won Kalshi v. CFTC (D.C. Circuit) to list congressional control contracts — first legal precedent for political event contracts on regulated exchanges.
- **Access**: US-native. KYC required. Traditional payment rails (bank transfer, debit card). No crypto exposure for users.
- **Market creation**: Centrally listed — Kalshi chooses which markets to offer (vs Polymarket's permissionless model)
- **Distribution**: Brokerage integration (Interactive Brokers partnership), mobile-first UX

## Timeline
- **2021** — Founded. CFTC designation as contract market.
- **2023** — CFTC tried to block election contracts. Kalshi sued.
- **2024-09** — Won federal court case (D.C. Circuit) — CFTC cannot ban political event contracts
- **2024-11** — Election trading alongside Polymarket. Combined volume $3.7B+
- **2025** — Growth surge post-election vindication
- **2026-03** — Combined Polymarket+Kalshi weekly record: $5.35B (week of March 2-8, 2026)

- **2026-01-XX** — Targeting $20B valuation alongside Polymarket as prediction market duopoly emerges
- **2025-XX-XX** — Positioned for retail adoption through traditional broker integration with native CFTC approval
- **2026-02-19** — Tennessee federal court ruled in Kalshi's favor, finding sports contracts are 'swaps' under CEA exclusive jurisdiction and conflict preemption applies. Circuit split emerges as Nevada, Massachusetts, and Maryland courts rule against federal preemption.
- **2026-02-19** — Tennessee federal court ruled in favor of Kalshi, holding that sports contracts are 'swaps' under CEA exclusive jurisdiction and conflict preemption applies because simultaneous compliance with federal and state requirements is impossible
- **2026-01-30** — NPR reports Kalshi faces 19 federal lawsuits across three categories: 8 state/tribal offensive suits, 6 Kalshi offensive suits against state regulators, and 5 consumer class actions alleging illegal gambling service worsening addiction
- **2025-04 to 2026-02** — Kalshi engaged in 50+ legal battles across 8+ jurisdictions over whether sports event contracts are federally preempted derivatives or state-regulated gaming, with conflicting district court rulings creating conditions for Supreme Court review
- **2025-08-01** — Maryland District Court ruled against Kalshi in KalshiEx v. Martin, finding dual compliance with state gambling laws theoretically possible and rejecting field preemption argument (Fourth Circuit appeal No. 25-1892 pending)
- **2026-01-09** — Tennessee Middle District Court ruled in favor of Kalshi in KalshiEx v. Orgel, finding impossibility of dual compliance and obstacle to federal objectives, creating circuit split with Maryland
- **2026-03-17** — Arizona AG filed 20 criminal counts including illegal gambling and election wagering — first-ever criminal charges against a US prediction market platform
- **2026-01-09** — Tennessee court ruled in favor of Kalshi in KalshiEx v. Orgel, finding impossibility of dual compliance and obstacle to federal objectives, creating circuit split with Maryland
- **2026-03-19** — Ninth Circuit denied administrative stay motion, allowing Nevada to proceed with temporary restraining order that would exclude Kalshi from Nevada for at least two weeks pending preliminary injunction hearing
- **2026-03-16** — Federal Reserve Board paper validates Kalshi prediction market accuracy, showing statistically significant improvement over Bloomberg consensus for CPI forecasting and perfect FOMC rate matching
- **2026-03-23** — CEO Tarek Mansour co-founded [[5cc-capital]] with Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan, creating dedicated VC fund for prediction market infrastructure
- **2026-03-19** — Raised funding at $22 billion valuation
- **2026-03-26** — Trading at $110M monthly revenue with $18.6B pre-IPO valuation
- **2026-03-26** — Operating at $110M/month revenue with $18.6B pre-IPO valuation, establishing benchmark for prediction market valuations.
- **2026-03-23** — CEO Tarek Mansour co-founded [[5cc-capital]] with Polymarket CEO, creating first prediction market sector VC fund
## Competitive Position
- **Regulation-first**: Only CFTC-designated prediction market exchange. Institutional credibility.
- **vs Polymarket**: Different market — Kalshi targets mainstream/institutional users who won't touch crypto. Polymarket targets crypto-native users who want permissionless market creation. Both grew massively post-2024 election.
- **Structural advantage**: Regulatory moat. Traditional finance integration. No crypto friction.
- **Structural weakness**: Centrally listed markets (slower to add new markets). No permissionless market creation. Higher regulatory compliance costs.
- **Not governance**: Like Polymarket, aggregates information but doesn't govern organizations.

## Investment Thesis
Kalshi is the institutional/mainstream bet on prediction markets. If prediction markets become standard infrastructure for forecasting, Kalshi captures the regulated, institutional, and mainstream consumer segments that Polymarket's crypto model cannot reach. The federal court victory was a regulatory moat creation event.

**Thesis status:** ACTIVE

## Relationship to KB
- [[Polymarket vindicated prediction markets over polling in 2024 US election]] — Kalshi co-beneficiary of this vindication
- [[speculative markets aggregate information through incentive and selection effects not wisdom of crowds]] — same mechanism theory applies
- decision markets fail in three systematic categories where legitimacy thin information or herding dynamics make voting or deliberation structurally superior — boundary conditions apply equally

---

Relevant Entities:
- [[polymarket]] — primary competitor (crypto-native)

Topics:
- [[maps/internet finance and decision markets]]