Wealthsimple has secured approval to offer roughly 4,000 prediction market contracts in Canada, expanding retail access to event-based trading through a new partnership with Kalshi.
Summary
- Wealthsimple will launch a prediction markets app in Canada with access to about 4,000 Kalshi contracts.
- Kalshi’s crypto perpetual futures platform generated more than $5.5 billion in volume within two weeks.
- Regulatory and legal battles over prediction markets continue to intensify across the U.S. and several international jurisdictions.
According to Wealthsimple, the company plans to launch a standalone prediction markets platform called Wealthsimple Predict this summer, giving Canadian investors access to thousands of contracts listed by Kalshi across categories such as financial markets, economic data, and climate-related events.
The rollout follows authorization from the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization in March. Under the approval, Wealthsimple became the second investment dealer permitted to offer prediction market contracts in Canada. CIRO said the products will be regulated as derivatives and must carry settlement periods of at least 30 days.
Wealthsimple’s launch arrives as prediction markets continue to attract attention from regulators, lawmakers, and traditional exchanges in several countries. While Canadian authorities have allowed the products under an established derivatives framework, regulators elsewhere remain divided over how such contracts should be classified.
Kalshi expands beyond prediction markets
At the same time, Kalshi has continued pushing into crypto-linked derivatives. The company announced on Thursday that its perpetual futures products are now available for trading, following a May 31 announcement that formally introduced its crypto perpetual futures business.
Earlier this week, Kalshi disclosed that its perpetual futures platform generated more than $5.5 billion in trading volume within two weeks of launch. The company currently offers 11 crypto-linked perpetual futures contracts and has stated that discussions with regulators regarding additional products are ongoing.
Crypto.news previously reported that Kalshi’s rapid growth has intensified a separate political dispute in Washington. According to a Semafor report, a coalition that includes the Indian Gaming Association, the American Gaming Association, and several labor groups has urged the U.S. Senate to amend the CLARITY Act to explicitly prohibit sports and casino-style event contracts from being offered through prediction market platforms.
In a letter to lawmakers cited by Semafor, the coalition argued that sports betting should remain under existing state and tribal regulatory systems rather than falling under the oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The groups also claimed that prediction markets have enabled what they described as the largest expansion of gambling in U.S. history over the past 18 months without direct congressional approval.
Legal challenges continue to grow
Meanwhile, resistance is also emerging from established derivatives exchanges.
On Thursday, CME Group filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission over the regulator’s approval of cryptocurrency perpetual futures contracts offered by Kalshi and similar products introduced by Coinbase. The filing came one day after CME Chief Executive Officer Terrence Duffy said the company intended to challenge the approvals through the courts.
The legal dispute follows a series of regulatory actions supporting onshore crypto perpetual futures trading. In May, the CFTC approved Bitcoin perpetual futures contracts for Kalshi and issued a no-action position that allowed Coinbase to launch comparable products.
Several jurisdictions outside North America have taken a different approach. Spanish regulators ordered internet providers in May to block access to Kalshi and Polymarket while examining whether the platforms violated national gambling laws.
Indonesian authorities have banned Polymarket, while Japanese and South Korean regulators have also taken action against prediction market activity.
Within the United States, at least 11 states have challenged prediction markets in recent months. Speaking at Bitso’s Stablecoin Conference in Mexico City on June 16, Digital Chamber Chief Executive Officer Cody Carbone said the growing dispute between state gambling regulators and the CFTC is likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
