What Kalshi's leaders are saying
Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour told Bloomberg's The Circuit that "irresponsible users is a real worry for any of these types of products," and said the company is considering additional protections for customers who lose money. He noted that many retail traders also struggle with other popular products like options and futures, while adding that those outcomes have not kept Kalshi from talking with regulators about new safeguards.
"Our message is like, 'Let's regulate it, let's figure out the right guardrails and where there are gaps.'" Mansour added that he's receptive to regulators raising the minimum age for prediction markets to 21.
Mansour argued prediction markets differ from sportsbooks because Kalshi operates as an exchange and refrains from taking the other side of customer trades. "It looks and feels like gambling," he said. They lose it to other customers.
Rules, age limits, and new controls
A Bloomberg segment on prediction markets portrayed Mansour and co-founder Luana Lopes Lara as running what it described as the world's largest prediction market. On Tuesday, Kalshi announced it was putting in place a $2,500 monthly deposit limit for customers under 21 and automatically placing them in "special accounts" with features designed to reduce risky behavior among young adults.
Kalshi holds financial-exchange status under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Access is available to most U.S. users 18 and up, excluding a handful of states where service was recently suspended. By comparison, most online sportsbooks restrict access to those over 21.
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Who is getting hurt and what they say
Studies have found that most Kalshi customers lose money. Lara's view is that risk comes with any trading product. "I think we are very transparent that there are risks in every trading product," she said. "What's interesting to me is that actually it's never quoted next to how many people lose money day trading, because day-trading options, 95% of retail loses money."
Some young users described how easy access can spiral.
The bottom line for your portfolio
Kalshi is signaling tighter youth controls and discussing further guardrails with regulators, while remaining available to most over-18 US users. Mansour said he is receptive to a 21-plus age rule, and the company is rolling out under-21 deposit caps and special accounts.
The founders met at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Mansour conceded there were rumors that he and Lara had dated before launching the company, saying, "By the time we started the company, it was basically already fizzled out and company above all else, and it's worked out for us." Even prior to the funding round the company is now closing that pegs Kalshi's value at $40 billion, both were billionaires on paper. For investors tracking market structure and retail risk, watch the new controls for young adults, the potential shift to a 21-plus requirement, and the broader debate over how to police speculation without shuttering the exchange.
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