Prediction-markets operator Kalshi said it is expanding its surveillance program through a new independent advisory committee and several outside partnerships, a move the company announced just days before Super Bowl 60. The committee will provide quarterly briefings to Kalshi’s outside counsel and will publish statistics about investigations into suspicious activity on the platform.
Kalshi said it has teamed with crypto trading surveillance firm Solidus Labs and with Daniel Taylor, director of the Wharton Forensic Analytics Lab, to improve its ability to detect, investigate and respond to market abuse. The announcement arrives as more than $168 million in bets have already been placed on Kalshi for the Super Bowl.
The effort comes amid rising scrutiny of prediction markets from federal lawmakers and regulators. A bill introduced last month would limit trading by government insiders after reports that a Polymarket user profited from wagers tied to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro placed shortly before U.S. forces captured him. Separately, Kalshi is contesting actions from several U.S. state regulators that argue sports-event contracts are illegal gambling.
Kalshi said the surveillance committee includes Wharton’s Daniel Taylor and Lisa Pinheiro, a managing principal and data scientist at Analysis Group who focuses on market manipulation. The company named its lawyer, Robert DeNault, head of enforcement to coordinate with the advisory committee, and it hired Brian Nelson, a former U.S. Treasury official who worked on terrorism financing and financial intelligence, to advise on trading surveillance and compliance.
The Financial Times reported that Kalshi is also seeking regulatory approval to offer margin trading in the U.S., a change the company hopes will attract more institutional investors. Under the proposed structure, margin trades on event contracts would work like traditional futures—investors post a fraction of contract value and settle the full amount at contract close—and Kalshi has been in discussions with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for months to enable such trading.
Kalshi framed the moves as steps to bolster market integrity and compliance as betting volume grows and the regulatory spotlight intensifies.
