Key Highlights
- Robinhood is rolling out a new prediction market in collaboration with CFTC-regulated exchange Kalshi, enhancing its trading portfolio.
- This launch positions Robinhood against Polymarket, which accumulated $3.6 billion in bets during the last U.S. presidential election.
- Users will be able to wager on significant topics including Federal Reserve interest rates and NCAA basketball tournaments starting today.
After the triumph of the crypto-based platform Polymarket, Robinhood (HOOD) is debuting a prediction market on its platform via CFTC-regulated exchange Kalshi, with contracts available starting today.
This new market will enable users to place bets on future event outcomes, as announced by the HOOD in a press release.
The platform is competing with Polymarket, which garnered immense attention last year during the U.S. presidential election, facilitating over $3.6 billion in bets. This surge in activity raised serious questions concerning the identities behind these bets and the potential impact on election outcomes, leading to an FBI raid on Polymarket’s CEO Shayne Coplan’s residence and the confiscation of various electronic devices.
Robinhood has been in talks with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in recent weeks regarding this launch.
“We believe in the power of prediction markets and think they play an important role at the intersection of news, economics, politics, sports, and culture,” noted JB Mackenzie, VP & GM of Futures and International at Robinhood.
To mark the launch, traders will be able to speculate on the upper limits of the target federal funds rate for May, alongside betting on the upcoming men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments.
Additionally, shares of the trading app experienced a 2.3% increase on Monday, reaching $40.17.
