Kalshi on Wednesday said it fined and suspended an employee of the popular YouTuber MrBeast for insider trading, marking one of the first disciplinary actions within the fast-growing prediction market industry.
The case involved bets on certain events occurring in MrBeast’s videos, which were flagged by Kalshi’s surveillance team for their “near-perfect trading success on markets with low odds,” according to the company’s statement.
In a regulatory notice, Kalshi identified the individual behind the wagers as Artem Kaptur, whom the company said was employed as an editor for MrBeast while he traded on non-public information he obtained through his job.
MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. MrBeast is the most popular channel on YouTube, with roughly 468 million subscribers, according to vidIQ.
Kalshi and rival prediction markets such as Polymarket allow people to place bets on sports, politics, entertainment and any other events. For example, users can wager on the Super Bowl or which celebrity romances might fall apart.
In recent months, some trades on the sites have prompted speculation about possible insider trading. In January, one unidentified Polymarket user won $436,000 on a bet that appeared to anticipate former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces.
On Wednesday, Kalshi noted that it has opened 200 investigations into potential insider trading, which is banned on its site, in the past year.
Kaptur was fined $15,000 and ordered to return $5,397.58 in profits related to his trading on Kalshi, according to the company. The prediction market also suspended Kaptur for two years from the site.
Separately, Kalshi on Wednesday also said it imposed a five-year ban on Kyle Langford, who used the platform to wager $200 on his candidacy for governor of California. Langford was banned from the site for five years and fined $2,000, as well as required to return profits of $246.36.
“Note: this candidate recently announced he is no longer running for Governor and is now instead running for Congress,” Kalshi said in a filing.
In both Kaptur and Langford’s cases, their trades were flagged by Kalshi’s systems, leading its surveillance team to freeze their accounts, the company said.
“Neither trader withdrew any profits. These penalties are not indicative of future penalties — everything depends on the case, including amount traded and rules violated,” the company noted.
Kalshi said it has reported both cases to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and will donate the fines to a nonprofit that provides consumer education on derivatives markets.
