Kalshi uses ‘death carve-out’ to avoid paying out on Ali Khamenei ousting
The post Kalshi uses ‘death carve-out’ to avoid paying out on Ali Khamenei ousting appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
Prediction market Kalshi apparently allowed traders to bet on the ousting of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, racked up $54 million in trades, then voided the result the moment he was killed in a US-Israeli airstrike. Kalshi listed its “Ali Khamenei out as Supreme Leader?” prediction market contract before he was killed on Saturday. Although a fiery death at the business end of a US or Israeli missile would certainly, in most people’s eyes, count as being “out,” Kalshi’s rules technically contained a death carve-out. Specifically, the fine print specified that if Khamenei’s removal happened via death, the contract wouldn’t pay out. It’s insane this is legal. People around Trump are profiting off war and death. I’m introducing legislation ASAP to ban this. https://t.co/iC0uPpaWC5 — Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) March 1, 2026 Traders were predictably furious. “Getting rugged on a 100% correct prediction because of a fine-print ‘death carveout’ is wild,” one user wrote on Kalshi’s Discord. “What you’re doing is stealing,” wrote another. Critics accused Kalshi of trying to have its cake and eat it too by platforming a contract in the first place that involved bets on human death, then hiding behind compliance language when reality hit. It had the option all along to not list the market for trading, after all. It decided to list it and accept trades. Using crypto to profit from death Even though the market involved potential death, Kalshi promoted it on social media for days. Users wagered $54 million on it. US Senator Chris Murphy called it “insane this is legal.” Ex-SEC Chief of Staff Amanda Fischer told NPR that prediction markets are “promoting opportunities to bet on events that can only be seen as a proxy for war or assassination… this betting market shouldn’t exist in the first place” Six…
Filed under: News - @ March 2, 2026 7:29 pm