Regulations
By Evie Vavasseur
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What Polymarket and Kalshi Actually Do. Both platforms sit at the intersection of blockchain technology and speculative trading.
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Spanish Users Cut Off, No Timeline for Resolution. Right now, Spanish users hit a wall when they try to access either site. The block is live.
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A Possible Template for Other Regulators. Spain probably won't be the last. Prediction markets have been growing fast across Europe, Latin…
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Spain just pulled the plug. Authorities there have blocked access to both Polymarket and Kalshi, two of the biggest names in prediction markets, over what regulators call…
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The move didn't come out of nowhere. Spain has been watching online platforms that let people trade on event outcomes — elections, sports results, economic data — with growing…
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Both platforms sit at the intersection of blockchain technology and speculative trading. Polymarket runs on-chain, mostly on Polygon, letting users stake crypto on binary outcomes.
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That's the core problem for prediction markets globally. They don't fit neatly into existing categories.
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Polymarket, which saw enormous traffic during the 2024 U.S. election cycle, built much of its user base on political prediction markets.
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Right now, Spanish users hit a wall when they try to access either site. The block is live. Neither Polymarket nor Kalshi has put out a statement, filed any public response, or…
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More context: Fenwick & Wests $54 Million FTX Deal Leaves a $525 Million Lawsuit Looming
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That silence is probably strategic — companies in this position rarely want to say something that could complicate negotiations with regulators — but it leaves users with no…
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The platforms' path forward isn't obvious. Applying for a Spanish gambling license is an option, but it's slow, expensive, and would require them to accept classification as…
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Spain probably won't be the last. Prediction markets have been growing fast across Europe, Latin America, and Asia, and the legal status question hasn't been resolved in most…
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More context: Bitcoin Mining Stocks Jump as Wall Street Bets on AI Infrastructure Crossover
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The broader prediction market industry has been trying to position itself as financial infrastructure rather than gambling for years. That framing worked well enough with the CFTC.
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