Overview
- The Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026 was introduced Friday with support from more than 30 House Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, and it is not yet bipartisan.
- The measure would bar federal elected officials, political appointees, executive-branch employees, and congressional staff from trading event contracts tied to government policy, government action, or political outcomes when they hold or could reasonably obtain material nonpublic information.
- Torres says Kalshi and Polymarket have reached out since the bill drew attention, Kalshi’s CEO publicly backed the effort, and Polymarket has not provided substantive comment.
- The bill was spurred by scrutiny of a newly created anonymous Polymarket account that reportedly earned more than $400,000 on Venezuela-related bets, whose suspected link to Steve Witkoff was denied by World Liberty Financial.
- Prediction markets are regulated by the CFTC rather than the SEC, creating uncertainty over insider-trading rules, and related efforts include a New York proposal and an earlier bipartisan letter urging CFTC scrutiny of sports event contracts.