Crypto Exchanges

Story: Kalshi Hits $22B Valuation as Robinhood’s Tenev Backs Speculators in Prediction Markets

By Sydney TheCMO

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Robinhood's MIAXdx Play. Robinhood wants more control. The company plans to buy MIAXdx, a CFTC-regulated futures and…

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Insider Trading Mess. The industry's got a problem. Insider trading cases keep popping up.

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Vlad Tenev defended the role of speculators in financial markets during the Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything conference on May 5. His timing was pretty much perfect.

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The comments land at a weird moment for prediction markets. Two bills—the Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act and the STOP Corrupt Bets Act—are sitting in Congress right now.

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Robinhood's own numbers tell the story. The company processed 8.8 billion event contracts in the first quarter of 2026.

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The acquisition fits Robinhood's broader push into new asset classes. Event contracts have gained traction with retail investors who want to bet on everything from elections to…

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The industry's got a problem. Insider trading cases keep popping up. Kalshi penalized political candidates for betting on their own campaigns. That's awkward.

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These cases put prediction markets in a tough spot. Are they futures? Are they gambling? The legal framework remains murky. State gambling regulators want jurisdiction.

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The regulatory uncertainty hasn't slowed competition. eToro, Crypto.com, and Gemini are all pushing into prediction markets. Coinbase is reportedly exploring entry too.

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More context: Santa Ana Teen Gets 78 Months for Breaking Into Homes, Stealing $250M in Crypto

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eToro dropped about $70 million on Zengo to support on-chain prediction market trading. The deal shows how crypto platforms see blockchain as the natural infrastructure for these…

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But the insider trading cases create real questions about market integrity. Can platforms police themselves?

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The sector's growth and its legal troubles are happening at the same time. Kalshi's $22 billion valuation came just as federal prosecutors charged traders with fraud.

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Robinhood's acquisition of MIAXdx, if it goes through, would give the company a big advantage.

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The competitive landscape is getting crowded fast. Traditional finance companies, crypto exchanges, and sports betting platforms are all converging on prediction markets.

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