The Wall Street Journal subsequently reported that the CFTC is examining the trades, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Kalshi, the CFTC-regulated exchange best known for prediction markets, is facing questions over activity in its crypto perpetual futures after a trader found unusually repetitive trades in the company's public data.
Perpetual futures, or perps, let traders bet on the future price of an asset without an expiration date.
- In a Sept. 20 post on X, a trader who goes by Beni pointed to roughly $538.6 million in 24-hour trading volume on Kalshi's Ethereum perp, while only about $3.1 million worth of positions remained open.
Kalshi fakes their crypto volume and I can prove it
NOTHING pisses me off more than watching a company treat its own customers like complete… https://t.co/1LWMVGVaeU— Beni (@beniduboss) September 19, 2026
- Yet at the same time, traders were holding only about $3.1 million worth of open bets on Ethereum's price.
- The huge gap between the amount traded and the amount still being held looked unusual, though it doesn't by itself prove that any volume was fake. A day later, Beni published what they said was stronger evidence.
The $5,500 pattern
Using trade data available through Kalshi's public API, Beni said transactions worth roughly $5,500 kept appearing over and over again.
According to their Sept. 21 analysis, that single trade size accounted for between 48% and 58% of all trading volume in Kalshi's Ethereum perp on four separate days.
Felt bad leaving you guys with nothing tonight
So here is the undeniable proof that Kalshi is faking their PERP volume
FYI in case the data was to vanish over night, I have downloaded it and it's encrypted on 3 diff clouds
jus in case u know
Anyhow, here is an… pic.twitter.com/sd8fuI5zOL— Beni (@beniduboss) September 21, 2026
Beni also claimed, citing an anonymous source, that some market makers have agreements rewarding them for generating volume, though they didn't provide evidence supporting that allegation.
- Market makers are professional trading firms that continuously place buy and sell orders to keep markets liquid.
Kalshi does publicly offer incentives to firms trading its crypto perps. Under terms filed with the CFTC this month, some participants can receive reduced fees or even small rebates for providing liquidity.
But the rules also say trades suspected of wash trading, self-matching or other pre-arranged activity can be excluded from those rewards.
- Wash trading generally refers to transactions designed to create the appearance of genuine market activity without meaningful economic risk changing hands.
- Wash trading is completely banned and illegal in the United States.
Kalshi pushes back
But Kalshi crypto product lead known as IcoBeast disputed Beni's broader claims in posts on X, arguing that their original analysis mixed prediction market data with perpetual futures data.
Seems like a bunch of wires got crossed here so I just wanted to set the record straight. Your original claim was that Kalshi's crypto prediction market volume was fake. The chart from Artemis shows prediction market volume share, not perps. We don't do rebates for… https://t.co/RudV9qzDNn pic.twitter.com/QSIpBu0Cm5— IcoBeast.eth🦇🔊 (@icobeast) September 20, 2026
They also said Kalshi's incentive programs are publicly disclosed and denied that the exchange can simply handpick which firms receive access to its self-clearing trading program.
Beni pushed back on IcoBeast's response, asking why Kalshi hadn't addressed their allegations about perpetual futures and claiming, without providing new evidence in that reply, that "99%" of the volume was fake.
They also threatened to widen the accusations to Kalshi's crypto prediction markets. Hours later, Beni said a planned follow-up thread could be delayed by 24 to 48 hours because they had begun receiving non-public information and wanted lawyers to review what could be published.