Hi HODLers and Hiveans,
If you have been following my blog, you have seen me either referred to Kalshi or directly posting some of the markets I like to bet on.
Yesterday, they've announced that they traised $180mn from a funding round which would value them at $2bn! That's a hefty valuation but I would say it is warranted. I would love to be able to buy some shares of this company. Unfortunately, it is still private...
It has recently integrated with Robinhood and Webull to offer their customers access to Kalshi's contracts.
This platform rose to fame thanks to the US Elections where users placed bn of $ in bets. Since then, volumes have been lower. Following the election and the perceived lack of support for the CFTC (Regulator) to go after them; they slowly began to offer more and more Sports Betting options.
In March and April, about 79% of the platform’s daily trading volume in March and early April was sports-related.
Some states, including Nevada and New Jersey are coming after Kalshi as they feel Sports Betting should be regulated at state level and Kalshi is bypassing it.
For example, Sports Betting in California is illegal but you can bet on sports on Kalshi. Make it make sense!.
As much as I love the platform, I cannot help but side with regulators as it seems it has become a Sports Betting App and should therefore be regulated as a Sports Betting app! I love all the market they have created (Economic data, Movies, Elections...) outside of sports.
It has strong backing from people close to Trump and corporations (Paradigm, Schwab, JPM...). That's most likely the main reason why the regulators have left it alone since the elections.
In any case, this app if it is not stopped by regulator will most likely eat the DraftKings and Fanduel of this world. They offer better odds and you are the market maker. Therefore, you can benefit from less experienced bettors who sometimes make irrational decisions...