Prediction market Kalshi is once again being hamstrung by U.S. regulators. According to a closely watched decision, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission will not let the licensed betting market offer users a chance to wager on the future makeup of the House of Representatives and Senate this election cycle .This is an excerpt from The Node newsletter, a daily roundup of the most pivotal crypto news on CoinDesk and beyond.
The CFTC is not exactly deep pocketed, and it would be a turn of departure for the agency to begin adjudicating something like election fraud had Kalshi’s proposed “events contracts” gone into play. Plus, over a dozen states expressly forbid gambling on elections.a defense Instead of an impassioned defense of markets or waxing philosophic on the economic theory behind information markets, Pham argued that because the U.S. Court of Appeals had allowed PredictIt, an elections-focused prediction market, toafter the CFTC ordered it to halt operators, then Kalshi should be allowed to let people gamble on elections, too.
Fairs fair. But if Pham isn’t going to rep the prediction market-loving crypto bros here, then I will.