Kalshi is asking some users to disclose their employers as part of a new compliance push aimed at stamping out insider trading and market manipulation on its federally regulated prediction-market exchange.
The policy, announced Tuesday and effective immediately, requires employment information for traders who want to participate in markets Kalshi flags as higher risk for insider activity or abuse. Those traders may be screened before they can place bets. The change follows recommendations from an independent Surveillance Audit Committee that reviewed Kalshi’s enforcement systems, monitoring tools and trading controls.
“For markets with heightened insider or manipulation risk, we now collect employment information before traders can participate,” Kalshi said, describing the step as a way to identify people who may have access to material nonpublic information tied to a particular event or outcome.
Why this matters now
Prediction markets—platforms where users bet on outcomes ranging from elections and economic data to corporate and political events—have come under growing scrutiny as the sector expands. Critics warn that thinly traded or sensitive markets can be exploited by traders who hold inside knowledge.
A recent Yale and London Business School paper analyzing Polymarket trades from 2023 to 2025 found that just 3% of traders accounted for most price moves. The academic work cited high-profile enforcement cases, including the arrest in April of a U.S. Army Green Beret who had placed roughly $400,000 in Polymarket bets related to a raid in Venezuela in which he allegedly participated, and the arrest a month later of a Google engineer accused of insider trading on the same platform.
Kalshi’s enforcement metrics
Kalshi said its newer screening tools blocked more than 100 potential insider trades in the first quarter. The exchange also reported opening more than 150 investigations, referring over 20 cases to law enforcement and issuing five disciplinary actions. Kalshi did not disclose details about those cases; the company’s figures could not be independently verified.
New controls and whistleblower tools
Alongside employment disclosures, Kalshi unveiled a risk-scoring system to evaluate markets on factors such as insider-trading risk, market importance, regulatory sensitivity and national-security implications. Markets assessed as carrying elevated manipulation risks could face tighter controls or be rejected from listing entirely. The exchange also added in-market whistleblower tools so users can flag suspicious activity directly from individual market pages.
Industry reaction
Tim Meggs, CEO and co-founder of LO:TECH, a market-data infrastructure firm, told CoinDesk that these moves reflect the sector’s maturation. “Kalshi's move to require employment verification, risk-scored markets, and whistleblower tools highlights how the sector is starting to build the surveillance infrastructure to match its ambitions,” Meggs said. “That maturation matters as much as the volume numbers.”
What to watch
As prediction markets continue to grow—both on regulated exchanges like Kalshi and on crypto-native sites—expect more platforms to refine screening, surveillance and reporting mechanisms. The balance platforms strike between accessibility and stricter controls will shape how the industry addresses insider risk and regulatory scrutiny going forward.
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