The US Senate voted unanimously to bar all senators and their staff from placing bets on political prediction market platforms including Polymarket and Kalshi, with the resolution authored by Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, who also set the end-of-May CLARITY Act deadline.
Summary
- The Senate ban passed unanimously, a notable bipartisan outcome that reflects shared concern about insider information advantages after prediction market trading by political figures drew increasing scrutiny in 2025.
- Kalshi said it already proactively blocks members of Congress from using its platform and described the Senate vote as “a great step to increase trust in markets,” suggesting the resolution formalises existing industry practice.
- Senator Moreno’s authorship of the ban is significant in context: he is the same senator who warned most publicly that the CLARITY Act must pass by the end of May or be shelved until 2030.
The Senate voted unanimously to pass the Senate ban on prediction market trading by senators and staff on May 1. As crypto.news reported, the CFTC has been simultaneously locked in a legal battle with New York, Illinois, Arizona, and Connecticut over prediction market jurisdiction, making the unanimous Senate vote a significant political signal that Congress views political event trading as categorically different from the commercial prediction market activity the CFTC has been defending. Kalshi confirmed its response to the resolution by saying it already proactively blocks members of Congress, adding: “This is a great step to increase trust in markets.” Crypto Integrated reported that the resolution bars senators and their staff from betting on political events on platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi, which had become a visible flashpoint after prediction market data was shown to move in ways that correlated with legislative outcomes before their public announcement.
As crypto.news documented, the CFTC has been arguing that prediction markets on political events are legitimate financial instruments subject to its jurisdiction rather than gambling. As crypto.news tracked, the resolution emerged from a broader political conversation about whether legislators with access to non-public information have an unfair advantage on prediction platforms, a dynamic that undermines the credibility of markets designed to aggregate distributed knowledge.