Encryption Battle: After FBI Raids Polymarket Founder, Competitor Kalshi Buys KOL to Influence Public Opinion?

By Pirate Wires

Compiled by Felix, PANews

On November 13, local time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided the New York residence of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan and seized his cellphone and electronic devices. The focus of the FBI investigation is whether the Polymarket platform operates as an unlicensed commodity exchange.

However, after this incident, it seems that it is not just a matter of Compliance or not, but even involves business competition. According to the American media Pirate Wires, Kalshi funded KOL hinted that its competitor Polymarket and CEO Shayne Coplan were engaged in illegal activities. The following is the content details.

According to sources and screenshots received, on the morning of November 13, at 6 am, after a raid on Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan's SoHo residence, Polymarket's competitor Kalshi paid KOLs on social media to spread the news of the raid and promote allegations of illegal activities by Shayne and Polymarket.

Other screenshots provided by sources seem to show that, after the raid, KOL who posted negative content about Shayne and Polymarket discussed their paid collaboration with Kalshi. One source said that just a few days after the raid, a third party related to Kalshi offered him $3500 to write an "aggressive article" about Polymarket.

In a chat screenshot (see the picture below), a Kalshi employee asked Antonio Brown, a former NFL wide receiver with 2.2 million followers, to provide specific information about the assault investigation.

Kalshi's rise team member Keaton Inglis asked Antonio Brown in a screenshot, 'Hey, Antonio Brown, do you plan to comment on this with something like 'this n***er seems guilty'? He seems to be referring to a post by CJ Pearson that implies corruption by Shayne (archive link). Keaton Inglis' colleague and Chief of Staff at Kalshi, Brendan Beckhardt, added, 'Let's take action.'

On November 15th, Antonio Brown quoted a tweet from CJ Pearson (archived link) with the comment "This n****r seems guilty..."

On the same day, a third-party company related to Kalshi offered $3,500 to gateway Pundit journalist Elijah Schaffer (with 772,000 followers) to write a "hot article" promoting the claim that Polymarket and Shayne were involved in criminal activities. Elijah Schaffer revealed in a phone call to the media Pirate Wires that he rejected the proposal.

Other screenshots show that in the days following the FBI raid on Shayne's apartment, several KOLs have been promoting anti-Polymarket sentiment and discussing their paid partnership with Kalshi.

One screenshot shows that a representative of Clown World (with 2.8 million followers) is discussing a paid partnership with Kalshi. On the second day of the raid, November 14th, the account posted (archive link): 'Someone similar to SBF was raided by the FBI for an illegal betting scheme.' He was referring to Shayne. Since the election, Clown World has posted multiple other content related to Kalshi (archive link).

Another screenshot shows Arynne Wexler, a Miami influencer with over 67,000 followers, discussing her 'trades' with Kalshi at the end of October. On November 14th, Arynne Wexler posted a video about this incident (file link), pointing out that trading on Polymarket is illegal in the United States, while 'Kalshi has a license to operate in the United States,' and encouraging her fans to 'check the platforms you use to make sure they are legal in the United States.' Like Clown World, Arynne Wexler also posted other content related to Kalshi before the election (file link).

If this information is true, these allegations will reveal a behind-the-scenes brutal struggle between two companies for the dominant position in the US prediction market, with Kalshi paying large social media accounts to instigate a covert PR campaign on its behalf, without clearly disclosing significant conflicts of interest.

According to Bloomberg, the raid on Shayne Apartments is related to an investigation by the US Department of Justice. In a settlement protocol reached in 2022 with the CFTC, Polymarket was banned from accepting trades from US users for launching trades without obtaining prior approval from the designated contract market (DCM) and paid a fine of $1.4 million. Polymarket currently geoblocks US visitors trying to create accounts; it is unclear whether the investigation by the US Department of Justice involves users bypassing the geoblocking.

After receiving approval from the CFTC (i.e., becoming a DCM in 2020), Kalshi launched its platform in 2021 and offered various non-political event contracts. In 2023, the CFTC rejected Kalshi's application to allow users to trade congressional control contracts. The company sued the agency over the decision and in September 2024, a district court ruled in favor of Kalshi. In October of last year, a circuit court denied the CFTC's emergency stay of execution on the ruling, effectively allowing Kalshi to offer event contracts related to congressional control and other political topics.

Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan declined to comment on the matter. Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour, Keaton Inglis, Antonio Brown, Arynne Wexler, and Clown World did not respond to comment requests.