Nearly half of Kalshi’s traders were locked out of their accounts during a college football trading surge on Saturday, as widespread glitches and delays crippled the platform.
Users trying to place bets saw their orders stuck mid-process, and balances simply vanished from view. According to CNBC for almost 20 minutes, the website showed nothing but a spinning green “K”, leaving frustrated users stranded without knowing if their wagers had gone through.
One of them shared screen recordings with CNBC showing frozen Kalshi dashboards and blank bet slips. In a message sent directly to users, the platform reportedly admitted:
“The Exchange is experiencing temporary delays. Balances and positions may not be accurately reflected at this time.”
Kalshi followed up with an apology, saying it was “looking into” the issue that had traders unable to process orders or view their open positions. The company later said the problem had been fixed, though many users on X called it “the longest twenty minutes in Kalshi’s history.”
Kalshi denies outage as traders flood social media
After the chaos, Kalshi released a statement downplaying the scale of the disruption. “Earlier today, Kalshi experienced minor glitches that temporarily affected some user experiences. No exchange outage occurred, no funds were affected, and the issues are now resolved,” the company said. A spokesperson insisted that the exchange never stopped working properly, emphasizing there was no impact on clearing or institutional trading. “There were some glitches and delays on our web and app product, which affected less than half of our user base,” the spokesperson added.
Still, screenshots and video clips showed otherwise. Some users couldn’t access balances, while others said their bets were either delayed or never executed.
Now just a week ago, Kalshi had announced a $300 million Series D funding round, pushing its valuation to $5 billion, up from $2 billion in June. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, with backing from Paradigm, Coinbase Ventures, General Catalyst, Spark Capital, and CapitalG.
Like crypto’s Polymarket, Kalshi built its reputation by letting users trade on real-world events, from football results to who President Donald Trump might pardon this year.
Massachusetts targets Kalshi in sports-betting lawsuit
That business model now faces a major legal fight. In September, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell sued Kalshi, accusing it of offering unlicensed sports gambling under the disguise of “event contracts.”
“If Kalshi wants to be in the sports gaming business in Massachusetts, they must obtain a license and follow our laws,” Andrea Joy Campbell said in a statement. The state also asked the court to block the company from offering sports-related markets until the case is settled.
The tension spread fast. Robinhood filed a lawsuit against Massachusetts, saying it expected to be targeted next because it allows its customers to trade Kalshi contracts. Robinhood warned that the state’s actions could cause “reputational harm and potentially criminal or civil penalties.”
Kalshi argues it’s protected by federal regulation. It says the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) treats event contracts as legal prediction markets, and that federal oversight should override state laws.
Massachusetts disagrees. In a filing with Suffolk County Superior Court, the state said Kalshi is making more money from sports wagers than licensed sportsbooks such as DraftKings or FanDuel.
“Sports event wagers comprised approximately 70% of Kalshi’s trading volume between February 25, 2025, and May 17, 2025, which increased to 75% from March 18, 2025 onwards—Kalshi’s first day offering single-game March Madness markets,” the lawsuit says. “Kalshi made more from sports wagers than licensed sports wagering platforms DraftKings or FanDuel over the course of the same February through May timeframe.”
