Kalshi has banned three US political candidates for five years and issued fines after they placed wagers on the outcomes of their own election races.
Kalshi Insider Trading Crackdown
The platform flagged the trades through newly rolled out safeguards designed to block candidates from betting on their own elections, according to a company statement Wednesday.
Matt Klein, a Minnesota state senator running for the US House, was fined $539.85. Ezekiel Enriquez, who ran for a Texas House seat in March, received a $784.20 penalty.
Mark Moran, an independent Senate candidate in Virginia, was hit with the largest fine, $6,229.30, and was ordered to return any profits.
Klein and Enriquez settled with the platform. Moran refused to cooperate and faced a formal disciplinary action instead.
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Moran Defends Campaign Stunt
Moran said the wager was deliberate, framing it as a stunt to expose what he called gaps in oversight. He wrote on X that he wanted to get caught and test how the platform would respond.
Klein said he placed a $50 bet out of curiosity and later apologized, calling it a mistake.
Prediction markets have drawn mounting scrutiny from lawmakers worried about election integrity. Kalshi and rival Polymarket now handle billions of dollars in weekly volume.
Kalshi ranks as the world's largest prediction market, valued at $22 billion after a March funding round led by Coatue Management.
Earlier this year, Kalshi suspended a former California gubernatorial candidate and a social media figure tied to YouTube star MrBeast over similar violations, marking the platform's second major enforcement round of 2026.
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