US regulator moves to drop appeal against Kalshi

The United States Product Future Commission (CFTC) is looking for permission from the Court to eliminate an appeal against the Kalshi prediction market. The measure could allow the platform to offer political events contracts to users without contest.

In a May 5 presentation at the United States Court of Appeals for the Circuit of the Columbia district, the CFTC lawyers presented a motion without opposition of voluntary dismissal, suggestion of an agreement with Kalshi. The motion, subject to an approach by the Court, could end the appeal of the CFTC against a ruling of the Federal Court that the financial regulator could not prohibit Kalshi from lifting political events contracts, that is, betting on the elections.

Kalshi stipulated in a joint presentation that the company “would support its own costs, court fees and lawyers incurred” if the court granted the motion of dismissal of the CFTC. The platform said that “the electoral markets are here to stay” in a 6th place of May after the presentation.

The initial betting platform filed a lawsuit against the CFTC in 2023 in response to the regulator that ordered Kalshi to stop offering political event contracts. The company won in the lower court, which caused the appeal of the CFTC in September 2024.

Motion to eliminate appeal after change in administration?

The case was managed mainly before the US elections and the appointment of the interim president of CFTC, Caroline Pham, under President Donald Trump. The CFTC Commissioner, Summer Mersinger, nominated by former President Joe Biden, echoed Kalshi’s feeling in February, claiming that electoral prediction markets were “here to stay.”