Prediction Market Kalshi to Expand Onchain Presence

Prediction market Kalshi revealed its new head of crypto today, a trading and crypto influencer known as John Wang, who is tasked with “bringing new crypto markets to life, growing Kalshi’s builder ecosystem, and leading the push onchain,” according to an article Wang published on X.

Prediction markets have been a hot sector in crypto over the last few months, with Wang leading the push on social media and spending the last few weeks bullposting prediction markets. In a particularly viral tweet on Aug. 18, he said, “Mark my words: prediction markets will be 10x bigger than memecoins.”

Kalshi also recently expanded its sports betting markets through a new partnership with Robinhood. The activation enables National Football League (NFL) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) American football betting markets on Robinhood, facilitated by Kalshi.

Market leader Polymarket, on the other hand, announced a partnership with Elon Musk’s X in June, making the decentralized prediction market the official partner of X.

Controversial Past

Polymarket has been the crypto-native favorite among prediction markets since activity on the platform exploded leading up to the 2024 presidential election. It’s gearing up for an even bigger 2025, as Polymarket plots a return to the United States after acquiring a compliant platform through a $112 million deal in July.

Part of the favoritism also lies in crypto-natives’ general disdain for Kalshi and some of the company’s previous tactics.

Niko Kampouris, a social media specialist at Uniswap, called out Kalshi after the news broke today, saying, “Sorry, but Kalshi lost all respect after their coordinated polymarket propaganda tour during the election cycle. They tried destroying something that was built by one of our own. Don’t really care who they hire to help save face. I’m team polymarket because I’m team crypto.”

Kampouris is referring to some of Kalshi’s previous controversies, including an incident where the Kalshi team was accused of paying influencers to target Polymarket’s CEO, Shayne Coplan, with slanderous posts and misinformation after Coplan was raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in November.

Even Wang acknowledged in his X article that “As a crypto-native, Kalshi wasn’t the obvious choice for me at first.”

However, it is worth noting that Polymarket has faced its own issues, albeit under different circumstances. The most recent Polymarket drama centered around the efficiency of its decentralized oracle provider, UMA.

In this incident, there was a disagreement between subject matter experts and UMA governance voters as to whether or not Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s outfit in June was or was not considered a suit. While fashion experts deemed his outfit to indeed be a suit, UMA still settled on the “No Suit” outcome, causing outrage from those who lost money on the market, and potentially casting doubt on Polymarket’s decision to use third-party governance for market settlement.