US regulator moves to drop appeal against Kalshi

The Commodity Futures Futures US Commission Futures Committee (CFTC) requests the authorization of the court to leave an appeal against the Kalshi prediction market. This decision could allow the platform to offer contracts for political events to users without competition.

In a file of May 5 at the American Court of Appeal for the Circuit of the District of Columbia, the lawyers of the CFTC filed a request without opposition for voluntary dismissal, suggesting an agreement with Kalshi. The request, subject to the approval by the court, could end the CFTC appeal against a decision of the federal court according to which the financial regulator could not prevent Kalshi from listing the contracts of political events, that is to say that the bets on the elections.

Kalshi stipulated in a joint file that the company “would bear its own fees, judicial fees and fees of lawyer committed” if the court granted the rejection of the CFTC. The platform said that “the electoral markets are there to stay” in a position of May 6 following the deposit.

The Paris platform initially filed a complaint against the CFTC in 2023 in response to the regulator ordering Kalshi to stop offering contracts of political events. The company won the lower court, which prompted the appeal by the CFTC in September 2024.

Request by deleting the call after the change of administration?

The case was treated mainly before the American elections and the appointment of the interim president of the CFTC, Caroline Pham, under President Donald Trump. The CFTC commissioner, Summer Mersinger, appointed by former president Joe Biden, would have echoed Kalshi’s feeling in February, saying that the electoral prediction markets were “here to stay”.