Predictions platform Kalshi has reportedly begun allowing users to buy and sell tokenized versions of its event contracts on the Solana blockchain.
According to a Monday CNBC report, Kalshi has moved closer to courting cryptocurrency users by offering tokenized contracts, which are now live on Solana. The move tokenized bets on the predictions platform, which includes US elections, sports and more, making them tradeable on the blockchain.
“There’s a lot of power users in crypto,” John Wang, Kalshi’s head of crypto, told CNBC. “This is about tapping into the billions of dollars of liquidity that crypto has, and then also enabling developers to build third-party front ends that utilize Kalshi’s liquidity.”
The tokenization move could challenge the market share of prediction platforms like Polymarket by giving Kalshi users more anonymity. DeFi protocols Jupiter and DFlow will reportedly bridge the company’s offchain orderbook to Solana’s liquidity.
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Kalshi experienced a surge in activity in 2024 after a court ruling allowed the betting platform to offer contracts on political events leading up to a significant US election. In May, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission moved to drop its appeal over the court’s decision.
Kalshi’s valuation jumps to $11 billion
A November funding round led by Sequoia Capital and CapitalG reportedly raised an additional $1 billion for the predictions platform, with an estimated valuation of about $11 billion. The move could have put Kalshi on a similar playing field as Polymarket, which received a $2 billion investment from the Intercontinental Exchange in October.
Other companies, such as Robinhood, have pushed into the prediction market sector through the acquisition of an FTX-linked exchange and clearinghouse. Coinbase is also reportedly exploring a similar move.
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