Coinbase CLO: A U.S. court has determined that the Kalshi event contracts are swap products regulated by the CFTC

Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer paulgrewal.eth posted on the X platform that the U.S. court noted in its relevant ruling that ordinary users might perceive Kalshi's products as "similar to sports betting, if not indistinguishable," but the court emphasized that this perception does not change its legal attributes, as "a three-hour game and the Titans winning that game both constitute the occurrence of an event." The relevant contracts still fall under "swaps," which are exclusively under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

paulgrewal.eth believes that this ruling means that even if a product is similar to sports betting in form or experience, as long as its structure meets the definition of a swap and is traded on a regulated exchange, it remains subject to the CFTC regulatory framework.