Kalshi is finally going on-chain through a new partnership with RedStone, just as Polymarket gears up for its U.S. return.
Kalshi, the first CFTC-regulated prediction market, is teaming up with oracle data provider RedStone to make it possible to place bets on-chain across more than 110 networks, including Ethereum, Solana, Base, and TON.
In a press release shared with The Defiant, RedStone said that DeFi developers could use real-world data to create smart contracts that will be able to read and respond to actual events like who wins an election or how the Fed moves on interest rates.
At launch, however, the rollout starts with three data categories: the New York City Mayoral Election, the 2028 Democratic Nominee, and the number of rate cuts in 2025, with more markets expected to follow as developers start using the data.
“Kalshi has built one of the most credible sources of regulated event data, but making that data useful on-chain requires robust oracles,” said Marcin Kazmierczak, co-founder of RedStone, adding that the company wants to make this data “as dependable and easy to build with as price feeds, so developers can design financial applications that respond directly to real-world events.”
Kalshi daily and cumulative volume. Source: Kalshi DataAccording to Kalshi Data, which tracks the platform’s statistics, Kalshi saw over $109 million in trading volume on Oct. 22, with cumulative volume reaching over $12 billion to date.
Kalshi received approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to operate as a prediction market in the U.S. back in 2020, but the firm had no explicit crypto ambitions at the time. Kalshi began accepting crypto for deposits last year, and revealed its crypto push in earnest this summer, hiring John Wang as its head of crypto, and recently raising $300 million from VCs with strong crypto portfolios, namely Paradigm, Sequoia, and Andreessen Horowitz.
Kalshi vs. Polymarket
Until now, Kalshi’s data was limited to its own off-chain platform, a sharp contrast to Polymarket, the world’s leading on-chain prediction markets, which runs entirely on Polygon. Polymarket’s daily trading volume reached above $126 million on Oct. 19, per data from Dune Analytics.
Wang said in the press release that thanks to RedStone, builders in the Kalshi ecosystem “will benefit from both Pull and Push oracle model, based on needs, ensuring Kalshi has comprehensive data feed support.”
The partnership comes as Polymarket, Kalshi’s main rival, gears up for its U.S. comeback after acquiring QCX, a CFTC-licensed exchange and clearinghouse, in a $112 million deal in July.
For now, Kalshi remains the only regulated prediction market actively operating in the country, but Polymarket’s return is set to heat things up.
In crypto circles, Kalshi has drawn some skepticism over its past feud with Polymarket, including reports that it paid influencers to go after Polymarket’s founder and CEO.
Polymarket hasn’t been a stranger to controversy either, however. Earlier this year, a disputed market over whether Ukraine’s president was wearing a suit sparked debate about how reliable decentralized oracles really are.
Source: https://thedefiant.io/news/defi/kalshi-partners-with-oracle-redstone-to-bring-event-data-on-chain
