US Senators Ban Themselves From Prediction Markets Trading

Source: Slashdot

Background

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a rule banning senators from trading on prediction markets, effective immediately. The move came amid rising concern about insider trading on platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket, and about event contracts that can involve death or violence.

On April 22, Kalshi announced it had suspended and fined one U.S. Senate candidate and two House candidates for political insider trading on their own campaigns【Kalshi announcement】.

Senate Action

Earlier on Thursday, a group of Democratic members of Congress urged the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to issue a rule that:

• Prevents insider trading and corruption in the market.
• Prohibits event contracts on the outcome of elections, war and military actions (U.S. or abroad), sports, and government actions without a valid economic hedging interest.

Industry Responses

Kalshi

Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour praised the Senate’s resolution on X:

“I applaud the Senate for passing this resolution to ban Senators and their offices from trading on prediction markets,” Mansour wrote【X post】.
“Kalshi already proactively blocks members of Congress and enforces against insider trading. This is a great step to increase trust in our markets by making it an industry standard. Now, let’s pass this in the House!”

Polymarket

Polymarket also expressed support in a post on X:

“We’re in full support of this. Our Rulebook & Terms of Service already prohibit such conduct, but codifying this into law is a step forward for the industry. Happy to help move this forward however we can.”【X post】.