Kalshi announced new customer protections Monday as the company aims to make it harder for minors to access the popular prediction market platform.
Key Takeaways
- Kalshi is making Face ID the default for accessing its app.
- The operator launched a new feature to allow users to keep track of their accounts.
- The responsible trading changes are in response to a recent Senate bill.
Following a bipartisan Senate bill introduced last week, the trading exchange is making Face ID active by default for all users and is encouraging parents of minors to use the security measure on their phones.
“Kalshi prohibits minors from trading. Watching the data and building a critical lens of the news is good. Just no trading,” the company said in a release. “We run KYC (customer verification, like regulated brokers) and use that to block them. But like with any service, motivated minors try to circumvent KYC by using family members’ identification (parents, older siblings, etc.).”
Kalshi is also asking users to provide selfies for an “extra protection layer for higher-risk individuals” and is allowing users to see if anyone is accessing their prediction market account.
“This is to ensure no one - bad actors, minors, etc. - uses another person’s account against our policies,” the company said.
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Responsible trading
Kalshi, which is federally regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Association (CFTC), allows users 18 and older to access its platform. Most U.S. state-regulated sports betting operators require customers to be 21 years old to wager.
In other prediction market news, the NBA requested in a letter to the CFTC on Friday that the federal agency mandate a 21-plus age requirement for all prediction market users in the U.S.
Kalshi is also adding to its responsible trading initiative, which already includes risk limitations and self-exclusion. Now, the prediction platform is integrating a new social feature called “Inner Circle,’ which allows users to share their trading activity with friends and family to hold them accountable.
Kalshi will also recommend deposit limits based on activity.
“We look for signs of unhealthy trading and proactively educate traders on our controls, plus suggest personalized deposit limits for them,” the company said. “In some cases, we ask for proof of funds.”
Changes to the industry
Kalshi’s moves come at a time when lawmakers and stakeholders, like sports leagues, are calling for more restrictions on prediction market sites. Trading on sports, political, and cultural events has drawn nationwide concern due to insider trading.
Kalshi said its new features are in response to the Prediction Market Act of 2026. This bill would ban politicians from using insider information to profit from trading exchanges and develop new public safeguards in the industry.
The Senate also passed legislation last week, effective immediately, prohibiting members and their staff from using prediction markets. The House is now also considering the same ban, which Kalshi founder Tarek Mansour favors.
“I applaud the Senate for passing this resolution to ban Senators and their offices from trading on prediction markets,” Mansour wrote in a social media post. “Kalshi already proactively blocks members of Congress and enforces against insider trading. This is a great step to increase trust in our markets by making it an industry standard.”
