Kalshi has suspended two users and issued financial penalties after determining they violated the platform’s rules on trading with non-public information. The company disclosed the actions Wednesday, identifying one case involving an editor for YouTube creator MrBeast and another involving former California gubernatorial candidate Kyle Langford.

The enforcement steps mark the first time Kalshi has publicly detailed the outcome of investigations into alleged market manipulation on its exchange. Company officials said they reported both matters to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the federal agency that oversees prediction markets structured as futures contracts.

Kalshi stated that it froze both accounts during its investigations, preventing either user from withdrawing any gains.

Editor’s Trades Trigger Internal Probe

Kalshi identified the MrBeast employee as Artem Kaptur, an editor connected to the YouTube channel. According to the company, Kaptur traded roughly $4,000 in markets tied to the creator’s online content.

The platform said its monitoring systems detected irregularities in his activity. “Our surveillance systems flagged his near-perfect trading success on markets with low odds, which were statistically anomalous,” Kalshi said. “At the same time, because all trading data is publicly available, a number of Kalshi users sent us tips about unusual activities they saw in the trading data. We investigated and found that the trader was employed as an editor for the streamer’s show and likely had access to material non-public information connected to his trading.”

Kalshi concluded that Kaptur’s role may have given him access to confidential details related to upcoming videos and other developments. Robert DeNault, the company’s head of enforcement, said, “We investigated and found that the trader was employed as an editor for the streamer’s show and likely had access to material non-public information connected to his trading.”

Kalshi fined Kaptur five times the size of his trades, totaling about $20,000, and suspended him from the platform for two years. The company said it donated the fines collected in both cases to a nonprofit that educates consumers about derivatives markets.

A spokesperson for Beast Industries responded to the allegations, stating the company has “no tolerance” for insider trading. “We have a longstanding policy in place against employees using proprietary company information in order to safeguard the highest standards and ethics throughout our organization,” the spokesman said, adding that employees are banned from trading on prediction markets in MrBeast-related markets.

The CFTC noted that the trades “potentially violated” federal laws that prohibit the misuse of confidential information to influence commodity markets.

Candidate Bet on His Own Race

Kalshi’s second case centered on Langford, who ran as a Republican candidate in California’s governor’s race. In May 2025, Langford purchased contracts tied to his own candidacy, placing nearly $200 in trades. He later posted on X that he had wagered $100 on himself at 6% odds and shared a screen recording of the transaction.

Kalshi said its surveillance team discovered the activity through the social media post. “In May, our Surveillance Department saw an online video by a candidate for Governor of California that appeared to show him trading on his own candidacy,” the company said in its report. “We immediately froze his account and opened an investigation. The candidate was initially cooperative and acknowledged that this violated the exchange rules. As a candidate in a race, you can (and probably should) follow and use Kalshi’s market forecast, but you should not trade on it.”

In a legal notice released Wednesday, Kalshi described Langford as “a direct decision maker” in the market concerning the governor’s race, which barred him from participating under the exchange’s internal guidelines. The company imposed a five-year ban and fined him 10 times the value of his trade, resulting in a $2,200 penalty. Langford did not respond to a request for comment. He has since dropped out of the gubernatorial contest and is now running for Congress in California.

Industry Growth and Scrutiny

Kalshi and other platforms, including Polymarket and Crypto.com, have expanded rapidly during President Donald Trump’s second term. Users can place wagers on a broad range of outcomes, from election results to weather events and even specific phrases spoken during public appearances.

The sector operates under federal oversight as a form of futures trading rather than state gambling law. The Biden administration had sought to limit the types of contracts offered, arguing many lacked public interest value and created opportunities for manipulation. Trump administration officials have taken a different approach, dropping several federal investigations and pledging to challenge states that have sued Kalshi and other prediction market operators.

Kalshi reported that it has opened 200 investigations into insider trading over the past year, with more than a dozen active cases. “In the past year, we’ve opened 200 investigations and frozen a number of flagged accounts. Of those investigations, over a dozen have become active cases,” the company stated in its release. “We’ve received questions from customers about how we identify violations and enforce our rules. So, we’re releasing information about two insider trading cases we’ve recently closed.”

The company emphasized that enforcement remains an ongoing effort. “No system is perfect,” Kalshi stated. “No financial exchange is immune from bad actors. Not stock exchanges, not banks, not prediction markets. We’re committed to deterring and finding the bad actors, manipulators, and those who willingly cheat.”