
Bankless
"We Want to Be Bigger Than the CME" | Kalshi's John Wang
Sep 1, 2026
About this episode
Kalshi’s ambition extends far beyond winning prediction markets. It wants to become the largest exchange on Earth. John Wang joins David to explain Kalshi’s regulated crypto-perps push, upcoming gold and silver markets, international expansion, and the strategy for turning retail event contracts into serious institutional hedging infrastructure. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS CONTENT MCP https://www.bankless.com/premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Is Kalshi a Crypto Company? 3:56 Global Expansion and the Regulated Edge 14:55 The Regulated Perps Bet 21:38 Combining Perps and Predictions 27:51 The Insider Trading Problem 38:50 Who Owns Market Information? 45:58 From Sportsbooks to the CME 55:24 Prediction Markets for Institutions 1:02:40 Kalshi Versus Polymarket --- RESOURCES John Wang https://x.com/j0hnwang --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures