Donald Trump Jr. Leaves Kalshi Advisory Role, Citing His Firm's Polymarket Stake

Donald Trump Jr. is stepping down as an adviser to Kalshi, and the prediction market's explanation points to a rival. A Kalshi spokesperson told Bloomberg the two sides had "mutually agreed to end Don's advisory role after his firm's significant investment in a competitor this past summer," according to CDC Gaming's account of that report.

The investment is the centre of the explanation. CDC Gaming, citing reporting it attributes to the Financial Times and to its own summary, says Trump Jr.'s 1789 Capital put $200 million into Polymarket and then added $300 million over the summer. The Financial Times reported that his stake in Kalshi was worth $300,000 in January 2025, a figure from the start of the relationship rather than a current valuation.

The timing raises a second question. The departure comes less than two weeks after Democrats took control of Congress, and Bloomberg reported that Democrats in both chambers are expected to scrutinise the president's family ties to crypto and prediction-market firms. Kalshi's stated reason and the political calendar can both be true. Nothing in the reporting supplied here shows a congressional request or a Trump Jr. statement that connects his exit to either.

The wider dispute is about regulation. Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto criticised CFTC Chairman Michael Selig for serving the Trump family's interests and wrote that a move to undermine tribal and state sovereignty was "intended to create profits for the president's family." Removing a politically exposed adviser may reduce Kalshi's reputational exposure. It does not, on the evidence here, alter the CFTC's position on state preemption, which is the issue courts and states are actually contesting.

What remains open is whether Trump Jr. keeps any role at Polymarket, what the agreed terms were, and whether he will comment. The reporting so far rests on a single company statement relayed by others, so it describes Kalshi's account of the split rather than an independently confirmed reason.