White House staff told not to place bets on prediction markets

Please don't do insider trading. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

I don't understand why anybody without access to serious inside information is currently betting on prediction markets. It's clear that insiders are absolutely going to eat your lunch. So who are the suckers who are losing all this money?

I guess this isn't true for all things you might bet on, but it seems to be true for a lot of them.

Whew! Glad that's sorted.

Only the top guys are allowed to do insider trading! You guys are making it very very slightly more obvious!!

Does that include friends and cousins? Asking for a friend or cousin.

> White House staff were warned last month not to use insider information to place bets on predictions markets.

Misleading title. They were not "told not to place bets", they were warned not to use insider information to trade. They are still free to trade otherwise. As the article explains it is already illegal to use insider information to trade on prediction markets. So this warning is good legal advice for anyone.

When you elect a bunch of TV wannabes to run your country this is what happens.

Investor highlights for each platform:

Kalshi: Sequoia Capital, Paradigm, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Y Combinator, Charles Schwab, Henry Kravis (KKR), and CapitalG (Alphabet).

Polymarket: Intercontinental Exchange (ICE - parent of the NYSE), Founders Fund (Peter Thiel), Vitalik Buterin, and 1789 Capital (Donald Trump Jr.).

PredictIt: Primarily supported by Aristotle International (a political tech firm) and historically Victoria University of Wellington.

Donald Trump Jr.: Prominent investor in Polymarket through his firm, 1789 Capital, and serves as a paid strategic advisor to Kalshi.

The current CFTC Chairman, Michael Selig, created a 35-member panel to draft new regulations for prediction markets. This panel includes the CEOs of the platforms they regulate, such as Shayne Coplan (Polymarket) and Tarek Mansour (Kalshi).

And how about friends & family without official roles, congressional appointment process approvals, etc who just.. happen to be around a lot and involved in a lot of stuff?

While we’re at it, how about all Congress?

I think the proper thing to do would be to forbid these markets to make bets on stuff that can be won by using only insider information.

I'm sure it's a preventive measure and no one placed bets to enrich themselves in the last 12 months...

Surely half millions on prediction markets is pennies compared to what is getting made on oil futures/stocks.

insane they needed to be told

Isn't that in the law?

Naughty! Anyway

“Do as I say, not as I do.”

*unless they give the big guy a 50% cut

It is understandable that they require coaching on this issue when betting markets are being deregulated and Trump Jr. is invested in Polymarket.

It is trully pathetic that this needs to be said.

It’s laughable that it’s even necessary to tell them.

Hey don’t abuse privileged workplace information for personal gain isn’t exactly a fresh notion.

Imagine if professionals like lawyers and accountants operated like that.

[dead]

Aside from the current horrible admnistracion. If I understand correctly, One of the strengths of prediction markets is to try to get the insiders to come in and provide insider information thus improving the total info available.