Kalshi is tightening the rules for traders it views as high-risk, now asking some users to disclose their employers as part of a broader push to curb insider trading and market manipulation on its regulated prediction-market exchange.
The new policy, effective immediately, applies to markets Kalshi flags as having heightened insider or abuse risk. Traders in those markets may be screened — and must provide employment information — before they can place bets. Kalshi says the step follows recommendations from an independent Surveillance Audit Committee that reviewed the exchange’s enforcement systems, monitoring tools and trading controls. The company frames the measure as a way to identify participants who might hold material nonpublic information related to a specific event or outcome.
Kalshi is also rolling out a risk-scoring system that ranks markets by factors including insider-trading risk, market importance, regulatory concerns and national-security implications. Markets deemed particularly vulnerable could face tighter controls or be outright rejected from listing. In addition, the platform added whistleblower reporting tools so users can flag suspicious activity directly from individual markets.
The move comes as prediction markets — including crypto-adjacent platforms — face rising scrutiny. A Yale and London Business School study of Polymarket activity from 2023–2025 found that roughly 3% of traders accounted for most price moves, highlighting concentration and potential manipulation risks. High-profile enforcement examples cited in that broader debate include the April arrest of a U.S. Army Green Beret accused of placing about $400,000 in bets on a Polymarket contract tied to a raid in Venezuela that authorities say he participated in, and a subsequent arrest of a Google engineer on alleged insider-trading charges related to Polymarket.
Kalshi said its new screening tools helped block more than 100 potential insider trades in the first quarter. The company also reported opening more than 150 investigations, referring over 20 cases to law enforcement and issuing five disciplinary actions — though it declined to provide case details and those figures could not be independently verified.
Industry observers see the changes as a sign of maturation. Tim Meggs, CEO and co-founder of LO:TECH, told CoinDesk that Kalshi’s employment checks, market risk scoring and whistleblower channels “highlight how the sector is starting to build the surveillance infrastructure to match its ambitions,” adding that credibility and robust controls matter as much as trading volume.
For prediction markets — which let users bet on elections, economic releases, corporate outcomes and geopolitical events — the new Kalshi rules signal a tighter compliance posture that could become a model for firms trying to balance openness with the need to prevent insider-driven distortions.
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