Will Vegas Kick Kalshi Out?

Olivia Capozzalo & Squiffs _
November 26, 2025

gm, Defiers!

Today’s big story:

• Kalshi may have to stop offering sports betting in Nevada after the chief judge in Las Vegas’ federal court ruled in favor of the state’s gambling regulator

In other news:

• Fintech Klarna debuts stablecoin
• Berachain’s co-founder pushes back
• TradeXYZ volumes cross $500M
• Magma launches Monad’s flagship liquid staking protocol [SPONSORED]

Read more below! But first, please give our sponsors some love; they make this newsletter possible.

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We’re back! Here’s what you need to know in web3 today

📈 Markets in the Past 24 Hours

	TICKER	VALUE	24H
	Bitcoin	$88,639	1.36 %
	Ethereum	$2,972.91	1.28 %
	XRP	$2.21	0.78 %
	BNB	$884.69	3.29 %
	Solana	$138.14	1.03 %

Today’s Big Story

Kalshi Faces Legal Hurdles in Nevada

The prediction market wars have had a strange, but common, theme over the last six months: either Kalshi or Polymarket announces a new partnership or fundraise that initially feels big, only for the other to drop a similar announcement within 24 hours.

Polymarket announces a new VC round, Kalshi follows, Kalshi partners with the NHL, Polymarket joins in - and so on and so forth.

However, yesterday marked a stark difference: Polymarket started the day by announcing that it had officially received CFTC clearance to launch in the United States. But yesterday afternoon, Kalshi faced its first real hurdle when the state of Nevada, home of Las Vegas, the gambling capital of the world, filed a cease-and-desist (CAD) order against it.

The CAD order forbids Kalshi from offering sports contracts, which have dominated Kalshi’s volumes over the last few months, and while one out of 50 states doesn’t seem too bad at first, there is a risk that other states could follow suit.

The change came after a U.S. District Judge dissolved a 7-month preliminary injunction that allowed Kalshi to operate in Nevada. Following the move, Kalshi is now subject to Nevada’s gaming regulations.

Consensys lawyer Bill Hughes took to X to discuss the matter, where he sai,d “The court held that these contracts are sports wagering, not swaps, because if they were the latter, then any bettable thing could theoretically be a swap, and that is simply not what Congress intended. The court also held that, even if they aren't swaps, these contracts aren't otherwise under the CFTC's exclusive jurisdiction.”

It remains to be seen whether Polymarket’s decentralized structure will protect it from a similar crackdown.

Legal teams at both Kalshi and Polymarket are likely working overtime to make sure their I’s are dotted, and their T’s are crossed, as increased scrutiny is likely headed their way from legacy gambling companies that want to stifle the industry.

Time will tell whether this is a false alarm or a canary in the coal mine, but for the moment, the prediction market space is set to continue exploding in popularity through the end of the year.

Squiffs, resident degen at The Defiant

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🎬WATCH

Tokenize Everything: Robert Leshner’s Vision for On-Chain Finance

In the latest episode of The Defiant Podcast, Cami sits down with Robert Leshner — the mind behind Compound, and now the founder of Superstate — to discuss why DeFi itself shouldn’t change, but assets will, how tokenized T-bills, basis strategies, and even equities are finally getting institutional traction, and what happens when DeFi becomes the infrastructure powering TradFi.

Pluis. what he’d do differently after Compound’s messy transition to decentralized governance.

Top News Since Friday

• Klarna Debuts Stablecoin as it Expands Into On-Chain PaymentsSwedish buy-now-pay-later service Klarna unveiled its stablecoin KlarnaUSD, becoming the first bank to launch a token on Tempo, a payments-focused blockchain developed by Stripe and Paradigm.
• Why it matters: The rollout marks a significant shift for the fintech toward a broader on-chain payments strategy.
• Berachain CEO Pushes Back on Reported Terms of Investor’s Refund Deal Smokey The Bera publicly confirmed the refund agreement with Brevan Howard’s Nova Digital for its $25 million investment in BERA, but called Unchained’s reporting on the terms “inaccurate.” Meanwhile, Berachain’s CEO failed to provide evidence or a full explanation for what he says are the true terms of the deal. Why it matters: Nova Digital invested in BERA at $3, while the token is currently trading around $1. Plus, Nova’s refund clause could violate other investors’ terms, if they weren’t given a similar option.
• TradeXYZ Crosses $500 Million in Daily VolumeSoon after Layer 1 blockchain Hyperliquid launched “growth mode” for HIP-3 markets with its latest network upgrade, the leading tokenized equity market on Hyperliquid, TradeXYZ, achieved a new all-time high in 24-hour volumes.Why it matters: Growth mode, launched over the weekend, reduced trading fees by over 90%, boosting activity and liquidity in tokenized equity markets.

Trending on The Defiant

• TradeXYZ Crosses $500 Million in Daily Volume
• ECB Says Stablecoins Threaten Financial Stability
• Bitcoin Clears $88,000 After Trump-Xi Call
• Maple’s Dispute With Core Highlights Legal Limits for DeFi Products
• RAIN Surges 120% After Biotech Firm Unveils $212M DAT Plans
• Monad Launches Mainnet, MON Trades Near ICO Price

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