Kalshi Denies CFTC Investigation Amid Ether Perpetual Futures Trading Scrutiny

Kalshi, a US-regulated prediction market that has expanded into crypto derivatives, is pushing back against allegations of improper trading activity. The company denies any investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and claims its high-volume trading patterns are legitimate.

The CFTC-regulated platform has been scrutinized for its ether perpetual futures trading, which has seen nearly one million trades clustered around identical sizes, roughly $5,500 in notional value each. This accumulation of volume reached $5 billion within a single month.

Kalshi's ether perpetual market has a volume-to-open-interest ratio as high as 174x. For context, this means the dollar amount changing hands dwarfs the actual positions being held, similar to a restaurant where 174 people walk through the revolving door for every one person who actually sits down to eat.

Kalshi spokesperson Elisabeth Diana stated that 'We have not been contacted by the CFTC and don't believe there is any formal examination.' The company argues its systems block self-trades and actively monitor for coordinated activity, pointing to its track record of cooperating with regulators.