The prediction marketplace Kalshi is gearing up for the United States’ November elections by allowing users to start making deposits in USD Coin (USDC), a well-known stablecoin, as confirmed by the platform on Oct. 28th.
Cryptocurrency deposits are about to go live, and offramping will be managed by ZeroHash, a crypto payments platform, according to a report by Fortune magazine.
Political betting platforms are currently battling it out, with Web3 platform Polymarket currently leading the pack, and other competitors like Kalshi are working hard to keep up.
On October 7th, Kalshi listed event contracts for betting on US election outcomes following a groundbreaking court victory in September, marking the first time an election prediction market has been allowed to operate in the US. This sets the stage for other platforms like Polymarket to enter the scene.
Robinhood, the cryptocurrency and stock trading platform, announced on October 28th that it has introduced contracts for certain users to bet on the outcome of the presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump.
According to its website, Polymarket has a staggering $2.6 billion riding on the outcome of the November presidential election as of October 23rd.
Kalshi’s flagship market, “Who will win the Presidential election?” has accumulated nearly $87 million in total betting volume since its listing on October 7th, according to Kalshi’s website.
US regulators have expressed concerns about election prediction markets such as Kalshi, believing that they threaten the integrity of elections. However, industry analysts argue that they often capture public sentiment more accurately than polls.
Both Polymarket and Kalshi favor former President Trump to win the presidency, with the platforms pegging Trump’s odds at 62% and 66%, respectively, as of October 28th.
As the November election approaches, investors are keeping a close eye on Bitcoin’s (BTC) performance, which, according to Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital assets research, is creating a “very bullish setup” for the digital asset, CNBC reported on October 28th.