The predictions market platform announced two new hires related to state policy efforts and relations with the federal government.
Predictions market platform Kalshi said it will open an office in Washington, D.C., and hire “talent from both sides of the aisle” as part of the company’s efforts to expand its US footprint.
In a Monday notice, Kalshi said it had hired former Biden administration official John Bivona as the prediction market’s head of federal government relations, and Blake Bee, a former Amazon senior manager of state and local public policy.
The move came as many of the wagers on prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket are under scrutiny by US federal lawmakers and state officials.
In a statement to Cointelegraph, a Kalshi spokesperson said the company “acts as a neutral platform” and is “in dialogue with stakeholders” about plans to engage with US lawmakers and potentially get involved in the 2026 elections.
Many users turned to Kalshi after a 2024 court ruling allowed the platform to offer event contracts related to the US elections. However, the platform faces legal challenges in at least four US states for offering wagers on sporting events without a license.
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Kalshi remains one of the biggest prediction markets platforms, accounting for about two-thirds of the total prediction market trading volume, according to data from Dune Analytics from Jan. 12. Other platforms include Polymarket and PredictIt.
Major platforms predict chances of US government shutdown
US lawmakers in Congress have until midnight Saturday to pass a funding bill to keep the government open. As of Tuesday, it’s unclear whether any such bill will pass, as many Democrats are demanding changes to Department of Homeland Security funding over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol actions in US cities.
At the time of publication, Kalshi offered its users bets on a 78% chance that the US government would shut down on Saturday. Polymarket offered bets on a 79% chance. The last time the US government lost funding in October resulted in a 43-day shutdown, the longest in the country’s history.
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