Tarek Mansour: Insider trading is banned on Kalshi

Mansour wrote that Kalshi’s rules are modeled on how the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq handle material information: if a trader has significant information that is not meant for the public, they should not trade the related contract.

The comments came as Rep. Ritchie Torres works on the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026. The proposal aims to stop federal officials, political appointees, and executive-branch employees from trading contracts tied to political events and government actions when their decisions rely on nonpublic information. The bill uses a familiar “materiality” concept from securities law: information counts as material if a reasonable investor would consider it when deciding whether to trade.

The debate has largely focused on Kalshi’s rival, Polymarket. In early January, users flagged a large wager on Nicolás Maduro stepping down that reportedly generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit soon after news spread about his detention. The episode quickly turned into a social media argument about insider trading, feeding broader questions such as is Kalshi safe. At the same time, Polymarket faced criticism over disputed settlement rules for bets tied to a possible “U.S. invasion of Venezuela.”

Mansour argues that regulated U.S. venues should not be lumped together with offshore platforms that operate under a very different set of rules. Kalshi, he says, was built with a “regulatory-first” mindset and did not go live until it had U.S. approval. His background also points to a different origin story than most betting-style products: an MIT graduate with experience across tech and finance, he positioned Kalshi as an event-contract exchange, not a sportsbook.

There is also a business reason for the messaging. Prediction markets are moving into the mainstream, and media partnerships help frame them as market infrastructure rather than entertainment. In December, CNN named Kalshi its official prediction-market data partner and said it would put market odds on air.

If Torres’s bill advances, it would be a targeted response to the biggest worry around political prediction markets: that people with access to private government decisions could turn that access into trading profits while everyone else is left reacting after the fact. Kalshi is trying to lock in a simple message: prediction markets need the same bright-line rules that govern traditional exchanges.