U.S. senator raises concerns over alleged Kalshi-CFTC ties

Democratic U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal has called for a congressional investigation into alleged ties between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and prediction market platform Kalshi, Bitcoin.com reported. The concerns come amid allegations that prediction market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket gained operational advantages from regulatory actions under the Trump administration. Citing a recent Wall Street Journal report, Blumenthal raised the possibility that the CFTC responded in a way that favored Kalshi during the rollout of the platform’s perpetual futures product. According to the report, Kalshi canceled an event planned at a luxury penthouse in Brooklyn after the CFTC did not promptly announce approval of the new perpetual futures product. Tarek Mansour, Kalshi’s CEO, then called CFTC Chairman Michael Selig to complain, the report said. Blumenthal argued the report signaled possible improper compromise between the regulator and prediction market operators. He criticized the CFTC for approving a broad range of betting products tied to stocks and cryptocurrencies while putting industry interests ahead of consumer protection, and urged Congress to respond.