The United States Senate has passed a unanimous resolution that explicitly prohibits all senators and their staff members from engaging in trading activities on political prediction market platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi. The measure was introduced by Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, who also set a crucial end-of-May deadline for the CLARITY Act.
Recorded on May 1, the vote showcases a rare bipartisan consensus, driven by growing concerns that lawmakers could exploit confidential information for personal gain on such platforms. This move sends a strong political message that Congress views political event trading as fundamentally distinct from traditional commercial prediction markets, which the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has been defending in ongoing legal battles.
In response to the resolution, Kalshi affirmed that it had already implemented proactive measures to block members of Congress from using its services. The company described the Senate vote as a positive step toward enhancing trust and integrity in the financial markets. The ban extends to betting on political events through platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi, which have faced scrutiny after prediction market data exhibited movements correlating with legislative outcomes before public announcements.
This resolution emerges from a broader debate about fairness: legislators with access to non-public information hold an inherent advantage on prediction platforms, undermining the very principles of these markets as aggregators of distributed knowledge. The CFTC has been arguing that prediction markets based on political events are legitimate financial instruments under its jurisdiction, but the Senate’s unanimous action signals a determination to treat such trading as a separate category that requires distinct regulatory oversight.
