Key Highlights
Brazilian regulators have ordered local internet providers to block access to prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket, along with 25 other platforms.
The action cites investor protection rules and unauthorized offering of derivative-like contracts to retail users.
The ban follows a broader regional crackdown on offshore betting and crypto-settled prediction platforms.
Brazil's securities regulator CVM has ordered internet providers to block access to 27 prediction market platforms, including Kalshi and Polymarket. Regulators specifically flagged markets tied to elections and sports outcomes as falling outside the country's licensed derivatives framework.
Officials cited unauthorized offering of derivative-like contracts to Brazilian retail users and a lack of local licensing or investor protections. Kalshi operates as a CFTC-regulated event contract exchange in the United States, while Polymarket settles markets in USDC on Polygon and remains formally restricted to non-U.S. users.
The order also instructs payment processors and crypto exchanges operating in Brazil to flag and refuse transactions linked to the blocked platforms. Local exchanges have begun rolling out the controls.
The ban arrives as prediction markets have seen a surge in global volume following high-profile U.S. election cycles. Brazil's congress passed a sports-betting framework in 2023 that explicitly excluded event-derivative platforms, a gap regulators have now moved to close.
Neither Kalshi nor Polymarket has issued a formal response to the Brazilian order.
