Crypto Exchanges
By Jean-Luc Maracon
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What the Judge Actually Said. Oliver was pretty clear that figuring out what counts as a swap is the judiciary's job, not the…
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Kalshi's Legal Battles Keep Piling Up. Kalshi was valued at around $11 billion earlier this year and has roughly 24,000 users in…
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14 Lawsuits and a Messy Map of Rulings. Kalshi has now filed 14 lawsuits against various states over these same issues.
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A federal judge just handed Kalshi a partial win — and a partial headache — all in the same ruling. U.S. District Judge Vernon D.
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That sounds like good news for Kalshi. It's not that simple.
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His reasoning went further. For a contract to carry real regulatory weight as a swap, the underlying event needs intrinsic financial or commercial implications — something tied…
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Sports-event contracts make up somewhere between 80% and 90% of Kalshi's entire contract volume, and they contribute a similar share of revenue.
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But the judge didn't give Kalshi everything it wanted. The court rejected the company's claim of irreparable harm, and the language was blunt: the financial losses were, in the…
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More context: SECs Regulation Crypto Vote Threatens to Upend How Startups Raise Capital
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Coinbase Financial Markets got pulled into this too. It started offering Kalshi's contracts as a futures commission merchant back in January 2026, and while Connecticut didn't…
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Connecticut's enforcement sweep in December was broader than just Kalshi — it also swept in Robinhood Derivatives and Crypto.com.
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Kalshi has now filed 14 lawsuits against various states over these same issues. The results are all over the place. Federal courts are split.
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The Utah ruling in KalshiEX LLC v. Cox, handed down August 4, went against Kalshi's interpretation of its contracts as swaps.
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Related: CLARITY Act Has a 75% Chance of Dying Before September Vote
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So depending on which state you're in, the same contract might be a swap, might not be a swap, might be blocked, or might be temporarily unblocked. It's a mess.
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