Kalshi launches 'Blanket' product to help small businesses hedge risk
Kalshi launched Blanket, an AI-powered risk management tool that helps small businesses hedge real-world risks using Kalshi event contracts. Blanket analyzes business risks from weather, tariffs, elections, and energy prices and recommends relevant contracts, while all trading and compliance remain on Kalshi's platform. The product was developed by Zminsky, a former consumer fintech founder and trained financial economist. Blanket appears aimed at expanding Kalshi's user base beyond retail traders into the small-business market.
Blanket turns Kalshi's event contracts from a retail trading curiosity into a commercial risk-management layer for small businesses that previously lacked hedging tools. Blanket recommendation drives trade volume on Kalshi's platform while the small business holds the exposure, expanding the addressable market beyond individual bettors. For Kalshi, the stakes are clear: Robinhood's $156 million quarterly prediction markets revenue shows brokerage distribution is becoming a crowded auction, and owned verticals like corporate contracts are the escape.
Blanket duplicates that playbook for commercial users. If small businesses adopt it, Kalshi builds a sticky base that does not depend on Robinhood's shelf space. If uptake stalls, the product becomes a marketing exercise that burns engineering resources while rivals tighten their grip on retail flow. Zminsky's fintech background gives Kalshi a credible product voice, but the platform must still prove businesses will trade event contracts the way they already trade futures.