White House to Meet Crypto and Prediction Market Executives Days After Baltimore Sues Kalshi and Polymarket

The White House is planning to host crypto and prediction market executives on Wednesday, Aug. 19, according to a Politico report published Thursday. The attendee list and agenda have not been finalized, executives from traditional finance firms may also attend, and it remains unclear whether President Trump will join. The White House has neither confirmed nor denied the meeting.

The gathering falls one day before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Innovation Advisory Committee holds its inaugural session. Chairman Michael Selig released the agenda on Thursday for the four-hour meeting, which covers crypto market structure, AI in financial markets, and prediction markets. The prediction market portion will examine the growth of event contracts, the division of authority between federal and state regulators, and what the agenda describes as recent litigation and enforcement actions — the same jurisdictional question Blockhead reported the CFTC was already working to answer through a dedicated rulemaking process in June.

That litigation has been accumulating quickly. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and the City Council sued Kalshi and Polymarket on Thursday, alleging the platforms offered sports contracts, including moneylines, point spreads and player-performance markets, without the licenses Maryland requires for sports betting. New York sued Kalshi on July 31 seeking to shut down its operations in the state and recover profits. Kentucky's attorney general filed against both platforms in June. Industry trackers now count roughly a dozen states in active legal conflict with the two exchanges, either through lawsuits or cease-and-desist orders.