Tarek Mansour, CEO of major prediction market platform Kalshi, is backing efforts to crack down on insider trading, which it described as “committing a financial crime.” The company is using its federally regulated status to separate its business model from offshore competitors following renewed debate over insider trading in these platforms.
In a LinkedIn post, Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said coverage has blurred distinctions between regulated US exchanges and unregulated offshore platforms. “Recent reporting has been conflating regulated prediction markets with unregulated, offshore prediction markets. What non-American, unregulated platforms do has no relationship to what regulated, American platforms do,” Mansour wrote.
Kalshi operates as a federally regulated exchange overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Mansour highlighted the company delayed its launch for several years until US regulatory approval was secured, describing that approach as foundational to its operating model.
Insider trading rules
Mansour said insider trading has been prohibited on Kalshi since launch and described the rule as standard practice for financial exchanges. “If you have material non-public information on a market, you cannot trade it, and if you do, you are committing a financial crime,” he wrote. “This applies to government employees, policymakers, executives, or anyone who holds information that is legally not meant to be public.”
He said Kalshi’s insider trading framework is adapted from rules used by the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, and includes provisions against market manipulation and abuse.
Mansour said allegations currently circulating in public debate are tied to unregulated, non-American platforms rather than CFTC-supervised exchanges. He added that criticizing regulated US markets for conduct occurring offshore misdirects scrutiny.
Offshore controversy
The renewed focus on prediction markets followed a trade on Polymarket, where one account reportedly earned more than $400,000 on a wager linked to the future of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro shortly before his capture.
While the Maduro wager was placed on Polymarket’s offshore-facing crypto platform, in September 2025, the company received approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to relaunch its U.S. markets and has begun rolling out its regulated U.S. app to waitlist users.
The incident prompted claims that prediction markets may reward traders with access to non-public information.
Legislative support and limits
Kalshi has publicly backed a forthcoming bill from Rep. Ritchie Torres that would bar federal officials and other senior government figures from trading on prediction markets using non-public information. Known as the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026, the proposal targets activity within US jurisdiction.
“Kalshi is supportive of the bill Ritchie Torres is looking to introduce to affirm the ban on insider trading on prediction markets. Why? Because we already implement it,” Mansour wrote.
The bill, as drafted, would apply to regulated American companies while leaving offshore platforms outside its scope, even though those venues are where alleged abuses have been reported.
Mansour said prediction markets should not be treated as a single category and that distinctions between regulated and unregulated operators carry legal and operational consequences.
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2026/01/09/117057-kalshi-backs-insider-trading-bill-while-distancing-from-offshore-prediction-markets
