The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has opened parallel inquiries into how prediction market platforms Polymarket and Kalshi verify the identity of their users, enforce geographic access restrictions, and detect suspicious trading. Chairman James Comer sent both companies letters on Friday, requesting documents and information from January 1, 2024 to the present by June 5.
The two letters share the same underlying concern: that the safeguards prediction market platforms use to keep ineligible or insider-trading users out may be insufficient, and that internal company records are the only way to test that. Comer wrote to Shayne Coplan, Chief Executive Officer of Polymarket parent Blockratize, and to Tarek Mansour, Chief Executive Officer of Kalshi, with cc to Ranking Member Robert Garcia.
Both letters ask for the same core categories of records. The committee wants documents on the identity verification technologies, vendors, and procedures each platform uses at account creation and at subsequent intervals; whether international account holders face the same know your customer requirements as US-based users, or are routed through reduced-scrutiny pathways by geography or account type; the financial trade-offs between compliance costs and platform growth; and any changes to identity verification or access control procedures since the start of 2024. Both letters also ask for the criteria, thresholds, and algorithmic tools each platform uses to flag anomalous trading, including trades that may reflect the use of nonpublic or classified information, and for records of any referrals to the Department of Justice, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or other authorities.
The letters cite specific events that prompted the inquiry. An April 24, 2026 federal indictment alleges that US Army Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke used classified information about Operation Absolute Resolve, the military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, to win more than 409,000 dollars in personal financial gain through wagers on Polymarket. A New York Times investigation, the letters say, found more than 80 Polymarket users with suspicious trades, including positions taken hours before unannounced US and Israeli military operations against Iran. The committee wants account and trading records tied to those specific events from both companies.
The Kalshi letter adds a distinct line of questioning rooted in the platform’s October 2025 expansion to more than 140 countries. Kalshi has been a CFTC designated contract market since November 2020, and the committee writes that it is concerned about the regulatory grey area created by the global rollout, and whether internationally placed event contracts are subject to equivalent identity verification and insider-trading prohibitions. The letter also references gubernatorial candidate Kyle Langford’s 200 dollar bet on his own race in May 2025 and three additional politicians who placed bets on their own races earlier this year.
Both letters request records on how each company collects, stores, and uses personal data associated with account holders, and on whether current or former officers, directors, employees, or advisers hold US government security clearances.
Sources: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (Polymarket letter), House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (Kalshi letter)
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
