Revealing the CNN and Kalshi Collaboration: How Are Prediction Markets Changing the Way We Get News?

At the beginning of December 2025, a major partnership announcement shook both the media and crypto finance circles: global news giant CNN and regulated prediction market platform Kalshi revealed they had formed an official partnership. This means that Kalshi’s real-time probability data will be integrated into CNN’s television broadcasts, digital, and social media news coverage.

An integration project led by Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten has already launched across various CNN programs. A real-time news ticker powered by Kalshi data will run during relevant segments. This partnership marks the first large-scale entry of prediction market data into mainstream newsrooms.

01 Inside the Partnership: A Data Revolution in the Newsroom

Unlike traditional data collaborations, the depth of CNN’s partnership with Kalshi is remarkable. According to the agreement, Kalshi will serve as CNN’s official prediction market partner, with its real-time probability data becoming a core component of CNN’s reporting.

CNN’s newsroom, data, and production teams will have direct access to Kalshi’s real-time data on political, news, and cultural events. This data will be used to develop key news storylines and visual elements.

The most visible change is the launch of a new real-time news ticker in CNN’s programs, powered by Kalshi’s technology. When a segment covers prediction market insights, this ticker will activate, providing viewers with an intuitive display of real-time probability changes for events.

02 The Prediction Market Titans: Kalshi’s Compliance Edge and Industry Landscape

Kalshi is not the only player in the prediction market space, but it has taken a unique compliance-focused path. As the first—and currently only—prediction market platform in US history to receive comprehensive CFTC oversight, Kalshi enjoys a compliance advantage that is hard for competitors to match.

This regulatory status has not only won Kalshi partnerships with mainstream media like CNN, but also opened the door to collaborations with traditional financial institutions.

By contrast, its biggest competitor, Polymarket, has taken a different approach, focusing more on deepening decentralization and planning an official return to the US market in 2026. According to industry data, the two platforms have a combined trading volume exceeding $45 billion, demonstrating the vast potential of this market.

03 Strategic Moves: How is Kalshi Bridging Crypto and the Mainstream?

A day before announcing its partnership with CNN, Kalshi made a strategic leap. On December 1, 2025, Kalshi began allowing users to buy and sell tokenized versions of its event contracts on the Solana blockchain.

This move means that by tokenizing compliant betting contracts, Kalshi has tapped into billions of dollars in crypto liquidity. In an interview, its head of crypto operations made it clear that entering the $3 trillion digital asset market is aimed at securing the liquidity needed to scale its products.

Kalshi’s choice of Solana is no coincidence. The chain’s real user transaction throughput has long remained stable at 700-1,000 TPS, with gas fees per transaction typically below $0.002. These technical features are a perfect fit for the high-frequency, low-cost trading needs of prediction markets.

04 Market Acceptance: How is Prediction Data Becoming a Mainstream Financial Tool?

Prediction market platforms are gradually moving from the fringes to the center. Kalshi claims its platform has become an important tool for politicians, media organizations, and financial markets to observe future events.

Polymarket’s leader bluntly stated on CBS’s “60 Minutes” that prediction markets are “the most accurate forecasting tool humans have today.”

Mainstream financial institutions have taken notice. In addition to CNN, companies including Google Finance, Yahoo Finance, Robinhood, and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) have all partnered with prediction market platforms.

These collaborations indicate that prediction market data is being seen as valuable financial information and a risk hedging tool—not just as a gambling platform.

05 Regulatory Controversies and Legal Risks: The Shadow Behind the Spotlight

Despite the growing mainstream acceptance of the prediction market industry, it still faces significant regulatory controversies. Kalshi was recently hit with a nationwide class-action lawsuit, accused of offering sports betting services without a gaming license and misleading consumers.

This legal risk reflects the awkward position of prediction markets in current regulatory frameworks. Should they be considered financial information tools or gambling platforms? Regulators in different jurisdictions have differing opinions.

Even in the US, CFTC approval for Kalshi is limited to certain types of event contracts, not a blanket license. This regulatory uncertainty could affect the depth and breadth of prediction market platforms’ collaborations with traditional institutions.

06 Crypto Market Moves in Sync: Bitcoin Returns to the $90,000 Mark

In tandem with the mainstreaming of prediction market platforms, the cryptocurrency market is also showing strong momentum. As of December 2, 2025, Bitcoin’s price had risen to $90,148.4, up 5.11% in the past 24 hours.

At the same time, Ethereum climbed to $2,931.84, up 4.32% in the past 24 hours. This rebound is especially notable, as Bitcoin and Ethereum had plunged 8% and 10% respectively on the previous trading day.

Market analysts point out that mainstream institutions’ embrace of blockchain innovations—such as the tokenization of prediction markets—may have bolstered investor confidence in the long-term value of crypto assets. Kalshi’s move to tokenize its compliant contracts on Solana further blurs the line between traditional and crypto finance.

07 Trading Insights: The New Value of Prediction Market Data as Trade Signals

For crypto traders, the CNN-Kalshi partnership highlights the multiple values of prediction market data. The real-time probability data these platforms provide can offer unique forward-looking signals for trading decisions.

Take political events, for example—probability forecasts of policy changes on Kalshi often lead traditional polls and expert analysis. When such data is widely disseminated through mainstream channels like CNN, it can trigger market repricing of related assets.

In addition, the integration of Kalshi and Solana offers crypto traders new arbitrage and hedging opportunities. Through DeFi protocols like DFlow and Jupiter, traders can participate in both on-chain liquidity and prediction market contract trading.

As prediction market data gains more exposure in mainstream media, the market’s response to this kind of information may become more sensitive and direct. Savvy traders have already started incorporating prediction market signals into their analytical frameworks.

Kalshi’s announced “Kalshi Builder Grants” program, with over $2 million in funding, will further enrich its on-chain ecosystem, creating more tools and strategies for traders.

Outlook

When CNN’s news ticker begins displaying real-time probability data from Kalshi, Wall Street traders and everyday viewers will see the same numbers. Prediction markets are no longer just an insider’s game for the finance world—they’ve gone mainstream, becoming a public measure of the world’s uncertainty.

On the giant screens of Times Square, beneath news of the CNN-Kalshi partnership, Bitcoin’s price is marching toward $100,000. Two once-parallel data streams—the probabilities from prediction markets and the prices of crypto assets—are now intertwined in the same information ecosystem, together sketching a hazy outline of the world to come.