Polymarket Cuts Staff as Kalshi Pulls Ahead
The prediction market says it's reorganizing under new leadership, while Kalshi has done roughly three times its trading volume over the past 30 days.
Polymarket confirmed it has laid off employees and ended contractor agreements, telling Reuters that a viral email ending contractor deals "as part of a company-wide reduction in force," effective Nov. 4, was genuine.
What's the Scoop?
What We Know: Polymarket won't say how many people were cut, but disputes viral posts claiming 30% of staff. More than half were contractors, mostly in marketing, customer experience and engineering, according to sources.
The Gap: Kalshi processed ~$17.7B in volume over the past 30 days vs. ~$5.9B for Polymarket, per DefiLlama; in October, it was $16.6B to $6.0B. Investors have pressed founder Shayne Coplan to run a tighter business, CoinDesk reported, citing Bloomberg.
New Guard: Polymarket named ex-Amazon finance chief Warren Jenson its first CFO in September and ex-Uber executive Travis VanderZanden chief growth officer, after firing CMO Matthew Modabber in October. Two sources told FOS the push to "professionalize" comes ahead of a possible go-public deal as soon as 2027, though Polymarket hasn't confirmed one.
David Christopher
David is a writer/analyst at Bankless. Prior to joining Bankless, he worked for a series of early-stage crypto startups and on grants from the Ethereum, Solana, and Urbit Foundations. He graduated from Skidmore College in New York. He currently lives in the Midwest and enjoys NFTs, but no longer participates in them.
