Kalshi opens retail ownership after $20B valuation in private-asset push
Prediction-market platform Kalshi, valued at more than $20 billion, began letting retail bettors own equity in the company on Thursday, May 21, according to Bloomberg. Previously, individual traders who helped build Kalshi's market had no path to ownership despite the platform's private-market valuation. An ETF is also offering retail investors exposure to the private startup, broadening Kalshi's investor base beyond traditional venture backers. CryptoBriefing reported that Kalshi has raised $1 billion at a $22 billion valuation, with CEO Tarek Mansour suggesting event contracts could eventually become a trillion-dollar market. The moves come amid a broader boom in private-asset access for retail investors and ongoing legal uncertainty for the regulated platform.
The retail equity opening forces Polymarket to choose between matching Kalshi's U.S. ownership channel or accepting permanent second-tier status among American retail capital pools. Polymarket's offshore structure already bars it from SEC-regulated ETF wrappers that Kalshi is now accessing.
Becomes the fourth major capital-structure move by Kalshi in under two weeks, after the $1 billion Series F, the Baillie Gifford and Layer Global addition, and the Polymarket-Nasdaq Private Market partnership, as the two platforms race to lock up institutional and retail capital ahead of competing product launches.