Kalshi Crypto Volume Faces Wash-Trading Questions After $539 Million Turnover, $3.1 Million Open Interest
Summary
- Reports said wash trading allegations were raised over Kalshi’s crypto trading volume.
- Questions were raised after ETH-PERP posted about $539 million in 24-hour trading volume while open interest (OI) stood at only about $3.1 million.
- Kalshi rejected the allegations, citing the absence of rebates and the structure of its market-making incentives, while the person who raised the claims said he would release additional information after legal review.
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Wash-trading allegations have emerged over crypto trading volume on prediction-market platform Kalshi, though the company said the claims stem from a misunderstanding of its market structure.
Wu Blockchain reported on Sept. 21 that Beni, co-founder of Stealth Neolab and a former quant trader, questioned Kalshi’s volume figures after its Ethereum perpetual futures contract, ETH-PERP, recorded about $539 million in 24-hour trading volume while open interest was only about $3.1 million.
Beni also took issue with the way Kalshi calculates and displays trading volume.
Kalshi’s head of crypto, IcoBeast, pushed back, saying Beni was confusing crypto prediction markets with perpetual futures markets.
IcoBeast said Kalshi does not offer rebates in its crypto prediction markets. He added that market-making incentives for its perpetual futures product are similar to those used by CME Group, Hyperliquid and Binance. He also denied claims that Kalshi directly selects its own clearing members.
Beni later said he had obtained additional information that has not been made public and would disclose more after receiving legal advice.
Suehyeon Lee
shlee@bloomingbit.ioI'm reporter Suehyeon Lee, your Web3 Moderator.