It lets users wager on Bad Bunny’s set list.
Same for who will win the 2028 presidential election or who will take home an Oscar.
Kalshi, the prediction-market platform, said it enforced its insider-trading rules after a user, who made a series of curiously accurate trades on the outcomes of the streaming show “MrBeast,” turned out to be one of the show’s employees.
In a novel step by the company, Kalshi announced on Wednesday that it had suspended the show employee from the platform for two years and fined him $20,000.
Kalshi also said that it had reported the employee, whom it identified as Artem Kaptur, to federal regulators.
“Our surveillance systems flagged his near-perfect trading success on markets with low odds, which were statistically anomalous,” Robert J. DeNault, Kalshi’s head of enforcement and legal counsel, wrote on LinkedIn.
According to Mr. DeNault, Mr. Kaptur’s activities also drew the attention of a number of other users of the trading platform, who flagged them to Kalshi.
“We investigated and found this trader was employed as an editor for the streamer’s show likely with access to material non-public information connected to his trading,” Mr. DeNault wrote.
Mr. Kaptur, 22, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday. It was not clear if he had a lawyer.
A spokesman for Beast Industries, the parent company of “MrBeast,” said in a statement on Wednesday that the company had initiated an independent investigation “to ensure the integrity of our workplace and trust with our global audiences.”
“Beast Industries has no tolerance for this behavior, whether by contestants or our own employees,” the statement said. “We have a longstanding policy in place against employees using proprietary company information which safeguards the highest standards and ethics throughout our organization.”
The company, which is based in Greenville, N.C., and has about 500 employees, declined to comment on Mr. Kaptur’s job status or his role with the show. In its statement, Beast Industries said it welcomed Kalshi’s efforts, but called on the company to be more open about sharing its findings.
“MrBeast” has more than 468 million subscribers on YouTube, getting its name for the nickname of the company’s founder, Jimmy Donaldson, a streaming impresario known for his viral competitions and giveaways. He also hosts “Beast Games” on Amazon Prime.
According to Kalshi, Mr. Kaptur made trades totaling $4,000 in August 2025 and September 2025 that were connected to YouTube videos of “MrBeast.” He made a profit of about $5,400, but his account was frozen before he could withdraw the funds, the company said.
Kalshi also announced on Wednesday that it had suspended for five years a California political candidate who last year bet $200 that he would be elected governor and posted about his bets on social media.
The company did not name the candidate, but its description and timeline tracked with a series of May 2024 posts by Kyle Langford, who was then a long-shot candidate for governor. As of Wednesday, his posts were still online.
Mr. Langford, who is now running for Congress, said in an email on Wednesday night that his bet, which he described as a “campaign gimmick,” had been blown out of proportion.
Kalshi said it had reported both Mr. Kaptur and the candidate to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates prediction-market platforms.
A spokeswoman for the commission declined to comment on their cases, citing the confidentiality of the commission’s investigations.
Prediction-market platforms have exploded in popularity, offering customers an alternative to traditional sports-betting apps. As of December 2025, Kalshi announced that its valuation had grown to $11 billion.
On Super Bowl Sunday this month, Kalshi’s daily trading volume surpassed $1 billion, Tarek Mansour, the company’s chief executive and co-founder, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” The platform reported $100 million in trading volume alone on users betting which song Bad Bunny would open his halftime show with during Super Bowl LX.
While appearing on CNBC, Mr. Mansour was asked whether it was realistic to think that privileged information about the singer’s set list would not have leaked out to someone like a backup dancer or camera operator — and whether that undermined the fairness of certain trades on Kalshi.
“This has been an age-old question for all types of financial markets,” Mr. Mansour said.
Neil Vigdor covers breaking news for The Times, with a focus on politics.
The post Kalshi Accuses a ‘MrBeast’ Employee of Insider Trading appeared first on New York Times.
