Trump Jr. profits from both sides of US Kalshi-Polymarket rivalry

Donald Trump Jr. has financial or advisory ties to both Polymarket and Kalshi. 1789 Capital is contributing $300 million to Polymarket's $1 billion funding round. The investment values Polymarket at $21 billion. Trump Jr. holds a paid advisory role and equity in Kalshi. Kalshi granted him the stake in 2025. The stake was worth $300,000 at that time. Kalshi's valuation later climbed to $22 billion. Trump Jr. became a paid strategic advisor to Kalshi in January 2025. He joined Polymarket's advisory board seven months later. Advising both platforms gives Trump Jr. a stake in whichever platform wins in the US market. Kalshi told CNBC that Trump Jr.'s advisory work concerns marketing strategy, not regulatory matters. The New York Times reported that Trump Jr. privately urged Republican attorneys general to stop pursuing prediction markets. The remarks came in March at a closed-door gathering in New Orleans. Trump Jr. argued that traditional gambling companies were driving the opposition to protect their market position. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has sued nine states this year to block state regulation of prediction markets. Eight of those states have Democratic attorneys general. Arizona filed criminal charges against Kalshi in March over unlicensed gambling. President Trump has separately backed prediction markets. He called them a new class of financial product in May. He argued that the CFTC's authority over them should remain intact.