Kalshi says it’s expanding its surveillance on its prediction markets platform through an independent advisory committee and partnerships to detect insider trading and market manipulation, just days ahead of the Super Bowl.
Kalshi said on Thursday that the committee would give a quarterly rundown to the company’s outside counsel and publish statistics on investigations into suspicious activity on the platform.
It is also teaming up with crypto trading surveillance platform Solidus Labs and Daniel Taylor, director of the Wharton Forensic Analytics Lab, “to detect, investigate, and address market abuse.”
The move comes three days before Super Bowl 60, one of the biggest sporting events in the US, with more than $168 million in bets already placed on Kalshi.
Regulators and Congress are also closely scrutinizing prediction markets, with federal lawmakers introducing a bill last month to restrict trading by government insiders after a Polymarket user made thousands on bets tied to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, placing wagers days before US forces captured him in Caracas.
Kalshi is also among a handful of prediction markets targeted by US state regulators, who claim that sports event contracts constitute illegal gambling, a claim Kalshi and other companies have rejected.
Alongside Wharton’s Taylor, Kalshi’s surveillance committee also includes Lisa Pinheiro, a managing principal and data scientist at Analysis Group, who focuses on market manipulation. Kalshi’s lawyer, Robert DeNault, was also appointed to head of enforcement to coordinate with the new committee.
Brian Nelson, a former US Treasury official who worked on terrorism and financial intelligence matters, was also hired to advise on trading surveillance and compliance issues.
Kalshi eyes offering margin trades: Report
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported on Thursday that Kalshi is seeking regulatory approval to offer margin trades in the US.
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People familiar with the matter told the FT that the approval is part of a move to open up to more institutional investors.
Margin trades on event contracts could reportedly be structured like traditional futures contracts, where investors deposit a fraction of the contract’s face value and settle in full when it closes.
Kalshi has reportedly been in talks with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for several months to enable margin trading.
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