Kalshi Trading Volume Surges During 2026 World Cup

U.S. prediction market platform Kalshi saw trading volume rise from $6.67 billion on June 22 to $24.2 billion on July 14 during the 2026 World Cup, with its “World Cup champion” market topping $1.2 billion. According to Odaily, Kalshi said the increase reflects a trend in the AI era as human interaction becomes scarcer amid more AI-generated content, and prediction markets are becoming a tool for tracking public sentiment and crowd judgment. About 75% of Kalshi visitors are said not to trade directly and instead use the platform as an information source to gauge collective expectations for sports, politics, and economic events. Bloomberg Terminal has already begun integrating Kalshi data to capture shifts in market sentiment. Chief Marketing Officer Allan Maman said AI may be driving the formation of a “new monoculture,” in which major live events again become shared social focus points. The company said the World Cup, U.S. elections, sports events, and award ceremonies have all led to concentrated spikes in trading volume. Kalshi is also seeking to expand from a sports prediction platform into what it calls next-generation financial trading infrastructure. The company holds status as a Designated Contract Market recognized by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and plans to cover more prediction areas, including sports, geopolitics, culture, and the economy. The company still faces regulatory challenges. Some U.S. state governments have questioned its sports-related contracts, and the CFTC is restricting some prediction contracts involving “discrete events” such as athlete injuries and referee decisions. Kalshi’s valuation reportedly rose from $11 billion in December 2025 to about $40 billion at the end of June 2026, and the company is preparing for an IPO. Its annualized revenue has exceeded $2 billion.