Kalshi CEO Highlights Prediction Markets as Tools for Insight, Beyond Betting

As Kalshi partners with CNN, critics question whether turning disagreements into tradable assets truly informs the public or fuels speculation.

How much do you want to bet that as Kalshi grows everyone's life will become a little worse? The "prediction market" platform which enables people to "trade contracts" on upcoming events in a manner that is legally different from gambling revealed earlier today that it had partnered with CNN to offer odds on anything from elections to the weather. According to co-founder and CEO Tarek Mansour it's only one component of the company's apparent strategy to financialize everything and turn any disagreement into a tradable asset.

Mansour appeared at Citadel Securities' Future of Global Markets 2025 conference last month to promote the idea that anything can be an asset if you're willing to put money on it. If you give this idea more than a moment's thought it doesn't make any sense. The notion that you can resolve a disagreement by converting it into a financial contract in which people place money on either side of the outcome is not a resolution tool. Kalshi just gets a portion of the bet.

Mansour stated at the conference that prediction markets are incredibly effective at distilling information and revealing the truth to people. During a recent appearance on 60 Minutes Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan introduced this concept referring to his company's platform as the most accurate thing we have as mankind right now. There isn't any solid proof of it and to be honest there isn't a very helpful metric to use to do so.

The wisdom of crowds is reflected in a prediction market. The market estimates there is a 66% chance that a result will be correct if a contract allows you to purchase a contract on that outcome for 0.66 dollars.