Republicans meet privately with Kalshi as Senate Banking Committee Democrats ask for public hearings on forecast markets

PANews reported on September 24 that according to The Block, all Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee sent a letter to the chairman, Republican Senator Tim Scott, requesting a public, bipartisan hearing on prediction markets. In their letter, Democrats argued that the committee has "critical oversight responsibilities" in overseeing prediction markets and should review them publicly rather than in "a separate, industry-friendly roundtable of closed-door Republicans." They emphasized that securities-linked prediction markets may involve issues such as consumer protection, market manipulation, insider trading, etc., and some products may fall under the jurisdiction of the SEC. On the same morning, Republican members of the Banking Committee held a private meeting with Tarek Mansour, CEO of prediction market platform Kalshi. Scott responded that the move was aimed at better understanding the opportunities and challenges of security-linked products.