Kalshi opens Washington office, hires former Biden administration official

Prediction market platform Kalshi said it will open an office in Washington, D.C., and has hired former Biden administration official John Bivona as its head of federal government relations and Blake Bee, a former Amazon senior manager of state and local public policy. The company said it plans to hire "talent from both sides of the aisle" as part of efforts to expand its US footprint.

The move comes as bets on prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket are under scrutiny by US federal lawmakers and state officials. A Kalshi spokesperson told Cointelegraph the company "acts as a neutral platform" and is "in dialogue with stakeholders" about plans to engage with US lawmakers and potentially get involved in the 2026 elections.

Many users turned to Kalshi after a 2024 court ruling allowed the platform to offer event contracts related to the US elections, but the platform faces legal challenges in at least four US states for offering wagers on sporting events without a license. Kalshi accounted for about two-thirds of total trading volume in the market, according to Dune Analytics data from Jan.

12; other platforms include Polymarket and PredictIt. At the time of publication Kalshi offered users a 78% chance the US government would shut down on Saturday and Polymarket showed 79%. US lawmakers have until midnight on Jan.