GoKawiil
Tech News
After the Clarity Act failed to advance in the Senate, the SEC issued an order creating a temporary pathway for trading tokenized stocks, and the CFTC submitted a crypto rulemaking proposal to the White House for review the same day. Details of the CFTC proposal have not been made public, though the Office of Management and Budget confirmed it is pending review.
Documents obtained by WIRED via a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that CFTC chairman Michael Selig authorized at least three previously unreported investigations into trading on Polymarket. One order, signed in early May, targeted possible insider trading tied to Biden-era pardon markets, following an NPR report on a trader who made over $300,000 betting correctly on pardons for figures like Liz Cheney and Adam Schiff. A second order in late May authorized scrutiny of Iran-related event contracts, coming shortly after a 60 Minutes segment exposed accounts that earned $2.4 million with a suspicious 98 percent win rate.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told CNBC he expects the Clarity Act to pass the Senate on Sept. 15, citing support from crypto firms, banks and law enforcement groups. He added that even if the bill fails, the SEC and CFTC have signaled readiness to issue their own rulemaking, meaning digital asset oversight will be clarified either way.
Polymarket has reportedly raised $300 million from 1789 Capital, an investment fund with Donald Trump Jr. as a partner, as part of a roughly $1 billion funding round according to the Wall Street Journal. This adds to a prior $200 million investment from the same fund, which has also backed other controversial ventures like the Enhanced Games.
Prediction market Kalshi has permanently banned former Rep. George Santos after finding reasonable cause he bet on whether he would attend Trump's State of the Union address, allegedly netting him nearly $18,000. Kalshi also fined him over $71,000 and separately suspended or penalized several other political candidates, including Ben Midgely, Laurie Buckhout and Stephen Cloobeck, for allegedly wagering on their own races.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Kalshi's bid to stop Nevada from regulating its prediction market operations, siding with the state's gambling regulators and attorney general who sued Kalshi in February for allegedly operating without a sports gambling license. The ruling adds to a patchwork of conflicting state and federal legal outcomes for Kalshi, which also faces action from Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and Arizona, even as a separate court found New Jersey lacks authority to regulate the platform.