With annualized revenue exceeding $2 billion, is Kalshi poised to become the first publicly traded prediction platform?

Kalshi may be launched as early as the end of 2027 or 2028.
Written by: Mach, Foresight News
On June 19, The Information reported that Kalshi's annualized revenue had exceeded $2 billion and that it had initiated early, informal talks with several investment banks regarding an initial public offering (IPO). Just one month prior, Kalshi completed a new $1 billion funding round led by Coatue Management, valuing the company at $22 billion. This was the company's third funding round in seven months, with other investors including Sequoia Capital, a16z, IVP, Paradigm, Morgan Stanley, and ARK Invest.
The IPO negotiations are in a very early, informal stage. Company executives have only had initial contact with investment banks, and there is still a considerable distance to go before formally submitting registration documents.
Total transaction volume reached 52.7 billion, with approximately 2 million monthly active users.
According to Kalshidata, as of June 22, Kalshi's total trading volume had risen to $52.7 billion, with a daily average trading volume of $29.27 million. Its daily average trading volume is projected to begin an exponential increase in October 2025.
Kalshi currently holds over 90% of the US prediction market activity share, with its revenue surge primarily driven by a simultaneous increase in trading volume and effective fees. Over the past year, its annualized trading volume has climbed from approximately $52 billion to $178 billion. Sports event contracts contribute the vast majority of its revenue. The NBA playoffs, the 2026 World Cup-related market, and its partnership with the National Hockey League (NHL) have attracted significant numbers of traders.
As of December 2025, Kalshi's annualized revenue was still $600 million. In May of this year, Kalshi had approximately 2 million monthly active users and annualized revenue exceeding $1.5 billion.
In addition, Kalshi recently launched Bitcoin perpetual contracts and will launch its perpetual contract trading platform, Kalshi Pro, this summer.
Since May 2026, Kalshi has maintained a high level of open interest, while Polymarket has not shown any significant changes.
The litigation dispute has become the biggest variable.
Kalshi's IPO path is not smooth, with its core risk concentrated on jurisdictional conflicts.
Kalshi maintains that its event contracts fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the CFTC as "swaps," and that state gambling laws should not apply. Since 2026, several states have been locked in a legal battle with Kalshi. A New Jersey court upheld Kalshi's sports contracts, and a Tennessee federal court granted a preliminary injunction in February 2026, ruling that federal law might take precedence.
Massachusetts courts have ruled that Kalshi is bound by state gambling laws, and Arizona has even filed criminal charges against the company, alleging that while Kalshi may have touted itself as a market predictor, it actually operated an illegal gambling operation and accepted bets on Arizona elections, both of which violate Arizona law. No company has the right to decide which laws it must comply with.
Tarek Mansour
Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour responded, "The Arizona Attorney General's allegations are baseless and clearly an overreach of authority. If they can bring these criminal charges against Kalshi, they can bring the same lawsuits against the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Nasdaq's traditional derivatives, including options trading, interest rate swaps, and grain futures. We have already filed a lawsuit against Arizona in federal court. However, instead of allowing a substantive hearing in federal court, the Attorney General is attempting to circumvent due process by filing false charges in state court. We will not be intimidated."
The CFTC has adopted a proactive defensive stance, filing federal lawsuits against Arizona, Connecticut, and Illinois, arguing that its "exclusive jurisdiction" should not be eroded by state law. Meanwhile, both the CFTC and Kalshi have taken enforcement action against market manipulation and insider trading.
On June 18, 2026, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman filed a lawsuit against Kalshi and Polymarket, accusing them of engaging in sports betting without a license and listing partners such as Coinbase, Robinhood, and Webull as related parties.
The outcomes of these lawsuits will directly impact Kalshi Sports' revenue streams. If an unfavorable ruling ultimately affects its core products, its business model and IPO will face significant pressure.
Ideally, it takes 6-9 months from early IPO negotiations to listing. Kalshi only began informal negotiations in June 2026, so the earliest theoretical IPO date would be December 2026. However, this requires zero delays in all aspects, resolution of litigation issues, and cooperation from the SEC.
Multiple organizations predict that Kalshi may go public as early as the end of 2027 or 2028.
Since 2025, IPOs of large fintech companies have commonly exceeded $1 billion. Companies with similar or larger revenues typically raise hundreds of millions to over a billion dollars in their initial offerings. In 2025, Circle went public with a valuation of $8 billion, with annualized revenue around $2 billion, raising approximately $1.05 billion in total.
Currently, Kalshi has become a unicorn with a valuation of $22 billion, representing approximately 11 times its annualized revenue (2 billion in revenue). If revenue continues to grow at the time of its IPO (driven by sports events and election cycles) and the US stock market maintains a certain level of liquidity, its fundraising amount could far exceed $1 billion. The exact amount remains to be closely monitored.