Kalshi ditches Trump Jr. as advisor; CEO admitted "optics" weren't good

Key Points:

• Donald Trump Jr. ended his advisory role with prediction market Kalshi after his venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, made a large $300 million investment in Kalshi's competitor, Polymarket, highlighting a conflict of interest between advising two rivals.
• Trump Jr. received about $300,000 in equity from Kalshi in early 2025 and served as a strategic advisor, helping the company market prediction markets, though Kalshi’s CEO stated he had no involvement in regulatory or policy matters.
• Kalshi has benefited from regulatory support under the Trump administration, with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) adopting a permissive stance toward prediction markets and suing multiple states to block their regulation of such markets.
• US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley criticized the Trump family’s financial ties to prediction markets, citing concerns over ethics and insider trading incidents, and called for stronger administration oversight.
• Kalshi faces ongoing legal challenges from states accusing it of illegal gambling, while it argues that its event contracts fall under federal regulation; the CFTC continues to defend Kalshi against state regulations and is reportedly close to bringing charges against the company for regulatory violations.