Kalshi & the CFTC: Why Kalshi Is Legal in the US

Kalshi is a CFTC-regulated exchange for event contracts, legal in all 50 US states. Polymarket is not. Here's the regulatory landscape.

The regulatory split

Polymarket: Decentralized exchange running on Polygon, operated by offshore entity. Settled with CFTC in 2022 over unregistered operation; since then, blocked for US IPs.
Kalshi: US-incorporated, CFTC-regulated as a Designated Contract Market (DCM). Fully legal for US residents.

The practical consequence: if you are in the US and want to participate in political event contracts legally, Kalshi is your answer. That's why our CTAs prioritize Kalshi for US visitors.

What Kalshi lists

Historically Kalshi focused on economic indicators (CPI, Fed decisions, unemployment, GDP), but after a series of court rulings and rule changes in 2024, Kalshi began listing explicit election markets, including:

2024 US presidential winner
Senate control
House control
Select high-volume state races

Expansion is ongoing. For policy markets (shutdowns, Fed chair picks, Supreme Court vacancies), Kalshi has broader coverage than casual observers realize.

How Kalshi fees work

Kalshi charges a fee on each fill. The fee formula varies by contract and trade size, but generally:

A fee proportional to the product of the YES price and the NO price
Minimum fee per contract
Fees shown transparently before order submission

This differs from Polymarket, which uses a separate fee structure typically built into the spread. Expected-value calculations need to account for fees on whichever platform you use.

Settlement

Both platforms resolve markets using public, authoritative sources:

AP calls for election winners
Federal Register notices for regulatory decisions
Official court filings for legal outcomes

Each market page on either platform publishes its settlement source in the rules section. If a resolution is disputed, both platforms have arbitration processes — rare but documented.

What this means for our coverage

We cover both platforms on every page where both list the market. For US readers, we surface Kalshi first with a clear note about its regulatory status. For non-US readers, Polymarket comes first because of its deeper global liquidity.

We never recommend VPN use to circumvent Polymarket's US block. That's between the reader and the platforms' terms of service.