Kalshi ramps up insider trading crackdown with new surveillance and hires

Home > USA > Kalshi ramps up insider trading crackdown

Prediction markets platform Kalshi has doubled down on its stance against insider trading, as CEO Tarek Mansour outlined a sweeping expansion of the company’s surveillance, enforcement and governance framework for its fast-growing prediction markets.

Kalsi CEO Mansour said the firm’s position is clear: insider trading undermines trust and threatens the long-term viability of markets built on public participation. While some commentators argue that privileged information can make prediction markets more accurate, Mansour rejected the idea, drawing parallels with equities markets where insider trading is illegal.

He argued that once traders believe markets are unfair, liquidity and participation collapse. “When people believe a market is unfair, they stop trading. Liquidity dries up, volume collapses, and the market dies,” he said.

Kalshi, which operates a CFTC-regulated event contracts exchange in the United States, said it has spent years building surveillance tools similar to those used by major stock exchanges. Its system, internally nicknamed “Poirot,” monitors trades in real time and flags unusual activity using pattern recognition models. Suspicious activity often appears in the form of unusually large or irregular trades, according to the firm.

When potential misconduct is detected, Kalshi’s market regulation team investigates using KYC data, funding sources, trading history and trader communications where appropriate. Penalties range from warnings and fines to referrals to regulators and law enforcement, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the US Department of Justice.

The company revealed that over the past year it has conducted more than 200 investigations and frozen accounts linked to suspicious activity. More than a dozen cases are now active, with several referred to law enforcement agencies.

Alongside its enforcement statistics, Kalshi announced a series of high-profile hires and partnerships aimed at strengthening its compliance infrastructure. Daniel Taylor, director of the Wharton Forensic Analytics Lab, will advise on complex investigations. Former US Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson will provide guidance on financial integrity and compliance.

Kalshi is also forming an independent Surveillance Audit Committee, partnering with monitoring specialist Solidus Labs to upgrade its technology, and appointing former white-collar crime attorney Robert J. DeNault as Head of Enforcement.

The moves signal Kalshi’s intention to position prediction markets as credible, regulated financial infrastructure rather than speculative novelty.

Scroll to Top