Wealthsimple launches Kalshi prediction app in Canada
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- Wealthsimple launched a Kalshi-powered prediction market app for Canadian investors after the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) authorized the firm in March, making it the second investment dealer in Canada cleared to offer such trading with contracts regulated as derivatives requiring minimum 30-day settlement periods.
- Kalshi went live with perpetual futures products this week, following a May 31 announcement marking its entry into the crypto perpetual futures market.
- CME Group sued the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission over its approval of cryptocurrency perpetual futures contracts from Kalshi and Coinbase, with CEO Terrence Duffy saying a day earlier the exchange would challenge the approvals in court.
- The CFTC approved Bitcoin perpetual futures contracts for Kalshi and issued a no-action position for Coinbase in May; Coinbase subsequently expanded US institutional access to global crypto derivatives, while Kraken launched perpetual futures trading via its CFTC-regulated Bitnomial exchange.
- Prediction markets face mounting global resistance, with at least 11 US states challenging them, Spain ordering internet providers to block Kalshi and Polymarket, and Indonesia banning Polymarket after users traded contracts on whether President Prabowo Subianto would leave office early.
- Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone said at Bitso's Stablecoin Conference on June 16 that the growing conflict between the CFTC and state gambling regulators is likely headed for the US Supreme Court.
Why it matters: Wealthsimple's Canadian launch gives retail investors a regulated venue for event-contract trading while US counterparties remain locked in jurisdictional fights, and Kalshi's pivot into crypto perpetual futures — now challenged by CME's lawsuit — doubles down on a product category whose legal status is unsettled from 11 US states to Spain and Indonesia.
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