A Federal Court of Appeal has fast-tracked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's case difficult events exchange Kalshi's right to supply contracts for U.S. political elections.
The expedited treatment comes as Kalshi and one other platform, Interactive brokersoffer a spread of political contracts, including betting on the outcomes of the US presidential election, US Senate races and party control of every chamber of Congress.
Kalshi advertised his presidential election contracts on electronic signs in New York's Times Square over the weekend.
The rapid appeal plan provides for this CFTC to file his legal transient by Wednesday and that Kalshi must respond along with his transient by November 15 – 10 days after Election Day. The CFTC then has until December 6 to file a response to Kalshi's transient.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit directed the clerk to schedule oral arguments on the “first appropriate date” after the filing of this answer.
Usually it takes months Federal appeals courts for briefings and oral negotiations.
The CFTC requested a hearing on December 2nd.
A commission spokesman declined to comment on the timeline.
In an Oct. 2 court filing, the CFTC argued that a fast resolution of the appeal was in the general public's interest.
The CFTC told the appeals court that election contracts were “vulnerable to market manipulation” and in addition posed a risk to election integrity, or the way in which the general public perceives the integrity of elections.
Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said in a press release that his company is “confident” that the law allows elective contracts.
Kalshi “looks forward to continuing to show how powerful these markets can be in promoting election integrity and bringing more truth into the system!” Mansour said.
The CFTC lost a lawsuit in September in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., looking for to dam Kalshi from offering contracts that may give political parties control of each houses of Congress in November.
The Commission quickly appealed that ruling to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which immediately issued an injunction temporarily barring Kalshi from accepting congressional oversight contracts.
But the appeals court lifted that stay on Oct. 2, saying the CFTC had did not exhibit that the commission or the general public would suffer “irreparable harm” if that injunction weren’t left in effect throughout the appeal process.
Kalshi re-offered his congressional contracts after which contracts on the final result of the presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, in addition to on other races.
As of Monday, Kalshi had secured greater than $7 million in contracts based on the presidential election results.
On October 3, Interactive Brokers began offering political contracts to its customers. According to the platform, greater than 1 million such contracts have been traded.
“We have seen significant demand for choice-focused contracts on our platform in just a short period of time,” Thomas Peterffy, founding father of Interactive Brokers, said in a press release. “This interest underscores the growing importance of political prediction markets.”
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