Kalshi has surpassed Polymarket in weekly trading volume, according to multiple reports.
Boosted by its US presence as football season has kicked off, Kalshi saw $871.8 million in trades over the past seven days, its best-ever week, according to Sporting Crypto.
Trading volume at Polymarket, which has yet to formally re-enter the US, is less than half of that, at $411.6 million.
Sports comprises about 80% of the volume on Kalshi.
Kalshi accounts for about 70% of trading volume across all prediction markets, up from a scant 2.4% a year ago, despite being live in only the US.
Kalshi’s surge comes as the company wants to go bigger in crypto, where Polymarket’s bread is buttered. Unlike Polymarket, its primary competitor in the prediction markets space, Kalshi sees relatively few transactions on the blockchain.
Crypto ‘next phase’ for Kalshi
A deeper push into crypto figures to put Kalshi on an exponentially quicker pace for growth.
That’s according to John Wang, Kalshi’s Head of Crypto, who says the company has its eye on a major blockchain expansion and calls crypto the “next phase of Kalshi’s growth.”
The 23-year-old crypto influencer and investor hired by Kalshi in August told The Block last week that Kalshi plans to be on “every large crypto application and exchange” within the next 12 months.
The realization of these aspirations will provide a boost to the crypto space, too, he believes.
While there are 86 event contracts listed under the “crypto” tab on Kalshi as of this writing, Wang says the company wants to increase that “by a ton” and asserts prediction markets could be the “Trojan horse” for users to get involved with crypto.
“I think in 12 months I would have failed my job if we couldn’t look the crypto community in the eyes and be like, ‘we genuinely made positive impact here, we brought in new audiences into crypto,’” Wang said.
Crypto key to competing in prediction markets
Just 10% of deposits on Kalshi are made with crypto, according to some estimates.
Kalshi allows users to deposit cryptocurrencies via blockchain platforms Zero Hash and Solana. While crypto deposits on Kalshi have traditionally converted into fiat, users can now fund their accounts directly from their Solana wallets.
With Polymarket’s imminent US re-entry a factor (the government shutdown may he holding it up, InGame surmises), Kalshi considers embracing crypto as essential to competing into the digital future.
“Any generational fintech company of this decade will be powered by crypto,” Wang said at a conference last week in Singapore.
Polymarket is reportedly considering creating its own native cryptocurrency or stablecoin. In an SEC filing by its parent company, Blockratize, “other warrants” and “other rights to acquire another security” were mentioned, prompting industry observers to anticipate the company is readying a launch of its own token.
Meanwhile, competition on the prediction markets landscape thickened last month by a partnership formed between DFS/sportsbook operator Underdog and digital currency exchange Crypto.com.
As the prediction market landscape evolves, it’s clear the main players see crypto as a critical to competing.
