As traders pour hundreds of millions of dollars into the presidential betting market, leading US predictions platform Kalsi allows users to fund bets in the form of stablecoin USDC rather than cash to compete with its biggest rivals. We have started accepting virtual currency deposits. , offshore company Polymarket.
Starting today, Kalshi users will be able to load their accounts with USDC, a popular cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar. The move will allow Kalsi’s customers to move their funds faster and cheaper, and will help Kalsi challenge Polymarket’s crypto platform, which exploded in popularity during the 2024 election cycle.
betting race
Political prediction platforms that allow users to bet on the outcome of election races have been around for decades, but the 2024 election has thrust them into the spotlight thanks in large part to Polymarket. The site recently hired leading pollster Nate Silver as an advisor and has attracted a large amount of trading and media coverage related to the presidential betting market. According to the Polymarket website, users have made $2.6 billion worth of trades on whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris will win, and Kalsi said there are $85 million worth of bets on the presidential race. It is said to have reached just under the dollar.
Part of the deal discrepancy is because the market for Kalsi is much newer. Founded in 2018 by Tarek Mansour and Luana López Lara, Karsi first received approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to launch a non-political betting market on contracts such as weather in 2020. Then, last year, he sued the department to start making political contracts as well. After winning his case at the district court level in early September, Mr. Carsi began betting on politics, including presidential elections, in early October.
In contrast, Polymarket violated the CFTC by launching a political prediction market without permission from the CFTC, and was fined $1.4 million in early 2022 and forced to move its platform outside the United States. Its lack of regulation prevents you from connecting to the platform due to its crypto-native design, which has proven popular among users and has attracted crowds as well. Polymarket connects to customers’ crypto wallets and settles bets in USDC. Its blockchain design has also exposed the platform to scrutiny, including accusations of manipulation after Polymarket confirmed that four of the major accounts betting on Trump were from a single French trader. are.
In an interview with Fortune magazine in early October, Mansour said he initially considered building Karsi on top of blockchain technology, but ultimately decided against it for regulatory reasons. “If we wanted to attract institutional investors, we couldn’t really think of a business that would be viable in that way for us,” he said. However, he argued that for users, USDC deposits will be faster and have lower fees than relying on ACH or bank transfers.
Kalsi is working with cryptocurrency company Zerohash to enable USDC deposits. The company says this allows for near-instant funding 24/7, as opposed to bank transfers that take three to four days. Zero Hash manages the conversion and compliance aspects of the new feature.
Mansour said Kalsi still lags behind Polymarket in trading volume, but its regulated approach is proving more popular with users, especially since Polymarket is not available to U.S. traders. Then he said. Calci is backed by investors including venture capital giant Sequoia, and Polymarket is backed by Founders Fund, which counts Peter Thiel among its partners. Robinhood also launched a political betting market for some customers in the United States on Monday.
As the presidential election draws ever closer, Mr. Trump has taken a commanding lead from Ms. Harris among Carsi’s clients, increasing his chances of victory from the October 10 stalemate to 62% as of press time. Traditional pollsters still predict elections as a coin toss.
