Prediction Markets News: Kalshi Makes Tokenization Effort

Kalshi is now offering tokenized versions of its event-contract wagers on Solana, the company told CNBC, marking its clearest bid yet to attract crypto traders who have gravitated to on-chain platforms like Polymarket.

The setup tokenizes Kalshi’s existing event markets, spanning politics to macro data, and makes them tradable on Solana, according to the Monday report.

Tokenized contracts work the same as Kalshi’s traditional products, but on-chain trading adds anonymity and aligns the exchange more closely with Polymarket’s model, the report said.

Tokenization is the process by which real-world assets are converted into blockchain-based tokens.

Support is already live, according to CNBC, with decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols DFlow and Jupiter connecting Kalshi’s off-chain order book to Solana liquidity.

Kalshi’s head of crypto, John Wang, told CNBC the move is designed to tap deeper pools of capital as prediction-market activity accelerates.

Tokenization gives Kalshi access to “billions of dollars of liquidity,” lets developers build third-party front ends, and helps maintain competitive pricing, Wang said.

Founded in 2018, Kalshi became the first exchange to offer federally regulated event contracts tied to U.S. congressional races in 2024 after a protracted fight with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the report noted.

The firm now runs about 3,500 markets and closed a $1 billion funding round last month that valued the company at $11 billion, according to a TechCrunch report.

As Polymarket presses into the U.S., CNBC noted Kalshi will need more liquidity to keep pace, something crypto-native traders may be uniquely equipped to provide.

Read more: State of Crypto: Kalshi and Prediction Markets Face a Setback