coindesk.com
Prediction market platform Kalshi rolled out its U.S. “Midterms Hub” as it seeks to position itself as the primary reference for election odds in the U.S
The new hub will allow users to observe the outcomes speculators expect in individual U.S. Senate and House of Representatives as the country heads to elections in November, Kalshi said in a press release sent Wednesday.
Kalshi said the Midterms Hub will provide a live snapshot of where users are willing to place their bet at any given time. “It’s designed as the one-stop-shop for state and federal election forecasting picture of where a race stands,” Kalshi said.
The outcomes are based on the latest odds for each market and across a map of the U.S., Kalshi said in the statement.
The hub will also feature polling averages, so potential bettors can see how the prediction market odds compare with what statistical surveys of voters are showing, the latest Federal Election Commission fundraising reports for individual candidates, and curated news and analysis from various outlets.
The announcement follows news reports that Kalshi Inc. is seeking regulatory approval with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to expand its perpetual contracts outside of crypto.
The platform is seeking approval to expand precious metals trading on its platform with a popular financial derivative instrument that never expires for gold, silver and platinum, Bloomberg said on Tuesday.
Kalshi’s Midterms Hum is its latest move to increase its political presence ahead of November’s midterm elections. The platform introduced the “American Power Index in May, calling it the “S&P 500″ for politics to track which political party is up and which is down.
The prediction market firm posted $31 billion in total notional trading volume in June, a more than 70% jump from May — with sports contracts accounting for around 85% of its trading. The company told CoinDesk that World Cup-specific volume on its platform accounted for $22.42 billion.
The new hub also comes a month after it was reported that Kalshi was seeking to raise capital at a valuation of about $40 billion, nearly doubling the $22 billion valuation it targeted in its previous funding round.