Overview
- Piper Sandler reports nearly $4 billion in volume on Polymarket and Kalshi for Jan. 13–19, including a record $799 million day, with January on pace for $16.4 billion.
- An anonymous Polymarket account that turned roughly $32,000 into more than $400,000 on Nicolás Maduro’s removal intensified concerns about insider trading.
- A group of senators requested a CFTC probe into the Venezuela trades, and Rep. Ritchie Torres introduced a bill to bar government personnel from using material nonpublic information on prediction markets.
- Polymarket and Kalshi are blocked on the White House Press WiFi and restricted on the House of Representatives’ network, reflecting tightening institutional controls.
- The industry is escalating lobbying with a new Coalition for Prediction Markets led by former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, as major gaming trade groups urge Congress to ban certain sports-event contracts.