Senate Moves to Ban Sports Betting on Prediction Markets

The prediction markets sports betting ban push finally has a Senate bill behind it. On Monday, Senators Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and John Curtis, R-Utah, introduced bipartisan legislation that would prohibit CFTC-regulated entities — Kalshi and Polymarket's U.S. platform included — from listing contracts tied to sports outcomes or casino-style games. All of this while Bitcoin climbed back above $70,000, buoyed by President Trump's comments on 'productive' Iran talks and a delayed threat of energy infrastructure strikes.

What Is the Prediction Markets Sports Betting Ban Bill?

The bipartisan bill from Schiff and Curtis would block any CFTC-registered prediction market from offering contracts tied to sports events or casino-style wagering — a direct shot at platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket that have been quietly expanding their event contracts into territory that looks a lot like sports gambling. The bill doesn't technically call it gambling regulation — it's framed as CFTC oversight — but the intent is transparent.

The political framing here is worth unpacking. Schiff is a California Democrat, Curtis a Utah Republican. That pairing doesn't happen by accident. It signals the bill has buy-in from both sides of an aisle that rarely agrees on anything, which suggests the prediction markets industry may have underestimated how seriously legislators are taking this expansion into sports betting territory. Kalshi won its fight to list election contracts last year after a court battle with the CFTC. It may find the congressional route considerably harder to beat.

Prediction markets have spent years arguing they serve a genuine price-discovery function — crowd wisdom, not gambling. That argument holds water for election contracts. It's much harder to make for a market asking whether the Kansas City Chiefs cover the spread on Sunday.

Polymarket and Kalshi CEOs Back $35M Fund — While the Senate Targets Their Platforms

The timing is almost comically bad — or brilliantly bold, depending on your read. Just as the Senate introduces legislation to constrain the prediction markets industry, the CEOs of its two biggest players are reportedly co-backing 5c(c) Capital, a $35 million venture fund specifically targeting prediction market startups.

Shayne Coplan of Polymarket and Tarek Mansour of Kalshi are listed among the backers of 5c(c) Capital. The fund's thesis is essentially a bet that prediction markets, as an asset class and product category, are still in their early innings — regardless of what Congress does in the short term.

Call it confidence. Call it defiance. Either way, it sends a message: these founders are not sitting on their hands waiting for regulatory clarity. They're deploying capital into the space while simultaneously running the most prominent companies in it. Whether that's savvy or reckless depends on whether the Schiff-Curtis bill gets traction — and right now, bipartisan Senate bills with industry-specific targets tend to get traction.

Bitmine Doubles Down on ETH as Early Whale Cashes Out

Buried beneath the prediction market drama: Bitmine made another significant Ethereum purchase. The company added 65,341 ETH last week, bringing its total treasury to 4,660,903 ETH — a figure that cements it as the largest corporate Ethereum holder by a wide margin. According to Bitmine's announcement, total crypto and cash holdings have reached $11.0 billion.

That's a staggering number. For context, MicroStrategy's Bitcoin treasury strategy — widely celebrated as the original corporate crypto treasury play — took years to build meaningful scale. Bitmine appears to be executing an Ethereum-native version of that playbook at an accelerated pace, and the market hasn't fully priced in what this level of concentrated corporate ETH demand means for supply dynamics.

On the other side of the ledger, an early Ethereum investor exited 15,002 ETH worth approximately $31 million, on-chain analytics platform Lookonchain reported on Monday. The wallet had held the assets for roughly a decade — meaning this person bought ETH somewhere near its genesis and just now decided to sell. That's patience most crypto investors would envy. Whether the timing reflects profit-taking, tax strategy, or something else entirely is anybody's guess.

Fidelity Pushes SEC on Crypto Broker Rules — And the Macro Backdrop Shifts

Fidelity Investments took a formal position on Monday, urging the SEC to move faster on rulemaking that would integrate crypto assets into existing market structures — specifically, alternative trading systems. The request isn't surprising from a firm that has been one of the more aggressive traditional finance players in crypto product development, but the timing matters. With the current administration signaling regulatory openness, Fidelity appears to be pushing through an open window before political winds shift.

The macro backdrop gave the whole crypto market some breathing room. Bitcoin's climb back above $70,000 came after President Trump publicly described Iran talks as 'productive' and held off on potential energy infrastructure strike orders. Crypto markets have grown increasingly sensitive to geopolitical signals over the past several months — the relationship between macro risk appetite and BTC price action is tighter now than it was during the 2021 cycle, when retail enthusiasm could override macro headwinds.

Separately, prosecutors raised questions on Monday about a letter connected to Sam Bankman-Fried's retrial motion. According to reports, investigators cited FedEx shipment details and address discrepancies that cast doubt on whether the document actually originated from prison. The SBF saga, apparently, is not done.