Why is Kalshi Appointing Influencer John Wang as its Head of Crypto

Kalshi:- The decentralised prediction market Kalshi has made an unusual hiring by appointing crypto influencer John Wang as its Head of Crypto.

This newly dubbed post of “Prediction Market Influencer” has been causing stirs on social media causing founders and experts to ponder over the logic of making an influencer the “Head of Crypto” for a leading platform.

Kalshi investor Kylie Samani, who is the Managing Partner at Multicoin Capital, revealed the logic behind hiring John Wang in a X post. He said that after reading ” few of John’s excellent posts I immediately reached out. We were on a Zoom call in minutes”. This interestingly reveals the upper hand that Kylie Samani played in the hiring process vis-a-vis Kalshi founder Tarik Mansour.

His KPIs are estimated to be around bringing new audience to Kalshi with John himself revealing that his DMs are always open to “join, build or partner with Kalshi.”

Who is John Wang, Influencer-turned-Head of Crypto

John Wang, right after being appointed as Kalshi’s Head of crypto revealed that AI made him drop out of his course in University of Pennsylvania. He calls himself as a self taught man.

Before his appointment, John has been regularly seen posting on X about crypto updates – similar to other crypto influencers. However, his posts heavily skewed towards prediction markets and “Kalshi” in particular talking about the near term trend and the positive values that decentralized prediction markets are briging to society. For instance, in a particular X post, he believes that prediction markets will replace the media in near future.

Social media and prediction markets share the same objective function:

Maximize disagreement.

When they converge, the flywheel of eyeballs feeding volume will be mind-boggling. Adding money to the mix will only heighten the emotional drama. It’s a match made in heaven.

— John Wang (@j0hnwang) August 24, 2025

Speaking on why he chose Kalshim, John said, “The culture fits me really well: low-ego, high agency, and shipping-first. Despite being a multi-billion dollar company, people still grind everyday in the office like its seed stage.”

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Prediction Market Influencer – The Next Career Defining Role in Web3?

John Wang’s appointment follows shortly after the platform partnered with Robinhood to surface Kalshi-powered prediction markets inside the Robinhood app, starting with NFL and college football contracts (and broader event markets).

However, this has prompted legal friction with Robinhood recently suing Nevada and New Jersey over state restrictions tied to prediction markets/sports betting.

Kalshi has also been proactively using fee rebates/incentives to ensure two-sided books and predictable spreads. On August 8, Kalshi published a formal “Volume and Liquidity Incentive Program”, establishing rebate/incentive mechanics to attract market-makers and liquidity providers.

Nonetheless, the hiring of John Wang has introduced web3 industry to the new career defining role of “Prodiction Market Influencer”. If it works for the platform – by brinhing new users and in turn hiking volumes and trading –  perhaps other platforms are also likely to follow and open such similar positions.

In fact, in one of the interviews on August 22, John Wang advised other crypto influencers to become a “Prediction Market Influencer”. He called it “the perfect time and opportunity to pursue. ”

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