Kalshi adds global elections to betting platform
Prediction marketplace Kalshi has added contracts for betting on outcomes of elections outside of the United States as political wagers soar ahead of the US presidential contest in November.
The contracts cover national races in countries ranging from Australia to Ecuador, according to regulatory filings with the Commodity Future Trading Commissions (CFTC).
Kalshi also added markets for 2025 races in Canada and Ireland, the filings showed. They add to Kalshi’s existing roster of election betting markets, including more than a dozen contracts tied to outcomes of the upcoming US federal elections.
As of Oct. 23, Kalshi’s flagship market — “Who will win the Presidential election?” — has bootstrapped some $52 million in total betting volume since listing on Oct. 7, according to Kalshi’s website.
Kalshi added more than a dozen new contracts on Oct. 21. Source: CFTC
Related: Kalshi election betting contracts multiply after court win
On Oct. 7, Kalshi listed event contracts for betting on US election outcomes after prevailing in a landmark court battle in September.
This marked the first time an election prediction market has been permitted to operate in the US. It paves the way for others to enter the fray, including Web3 platforms such as Polymarket.
Some $2.3 billion rides on the outcome of the November US presidential election on Polymarket as of Oct. 23, according to its website.
More than 75 countries worldwide are holding elections in 2024, including major economies across the European Union, India and Russia, according to data from Maps Interlude.
Other countries, such as Australia, Canada, Ecuador, and Ireland, are holding elections in 2025.
Source: Maps Interlude
The CFTC said election prediction markets such as Kalshi threaten the integrity of elections, but industry analysts say they often capture public sentiment more accurately than polls .
“[E]vent contract markets are a valuable public good for which there is no evidence of significant manipulation or widespread use for any nefarious purposes that the Commission alleges,” Harry Crane, a statistics professor at Rutgers University, said in an August comment letter filed with the CFTC.
Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
You may also like
Ripple CEO Garlinghouse says XRP ETF is inevitable
Share link:In this post: Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse says it’s only a matter of time before an XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) gets approved, following the success of Bitcoin ETFs. Ripple has been in a legal battle with the SEC over whether XRP is a security, but despite this, institutional demand for an XRP ETF keeps growing. Garlinghouse endorsed pro-crypto lawyer John Deaton, who is running against Senator Elizabeth Warren, and called out Warren for spreading misinformation about crypto.
Alliance accelerator: DAO and NFT are out, DeFi is in for crypto startups in 2024
Share link:In this post: Crypto startups abandoned the DAO and NFT narratives, focusing on DeFi, payments and infrastructure. More startups are coming from outside the USA, with Europe the leading region for H1, 2024. Startups become more distributed, thanks to the effect of stablecoins as a liquidity source and an intuitive payment tool.
Nvidia says it has fixed flaws with its Blackwell AI chips
Share link:In this post: Nvidia expects to ship several billions in Blackwell revenue. Supply for the next 12 months is already sold out. The chips are designed to handle the demanding workloads of LLM inference while reducing energy consumption.
Solana mobile app launch season is upon us
Cube CEO Bartosz Lipinski agreed in a text that having a mobile app is likely to become table stakes for Solana projects