Kalshi terminates Donald Trump Jr.'s advisory role after rival investment
Kalshi ended its advisory contract with Donald Trump Jr. following his firm 1789 Capital's investment in competitor Polymarket, citing a conflict of interest.
Kalshi announced that it and Donald Trump Jr. have mutually agreed to end his advisory role after his venture-capital firm, 1789 Capital, invested heavily in Polymarket, a rival prediction-market platform. The company said it remains grateful for his early marketing assistance.
Kalshi spokesperson Dani Lever said the decision was reached after discussions that began in August, when 1789 Capital made the investment. A source familiar with the process, who spoke on background, said the parties concluded that serving on advisory boards for both firms presented a conflict of interest in the rapidly evolving industry.
Trump Jr. had previously sat on the advisory boards of both Kalshi and Polymarket and holds a sizable shareholding in Kalshi. He has denied that his connections have influenced the administration's stance toward prediction-market platforms or related legal disputes.
"It was an optics issue, but we never used that relationship to win favor with federal regulators," Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour told MS NOW.
The Trump administration has faced scrutiny over prediction-market activity, with lawmakers introducing bills and letters to regulators concerning potential insider-trading risks. Senate and House members have voted to bar themselves and staff from using such platforms, and a dispute over state versus federal regulatory authority may reach the Supreme Court this term.