Wealthsimple bets 4,000 contracts you can't look away 📈

Wealthsimple is rolling out a standalone prediction markets app called Wealthsimple Predict this summer, giving Canadian retail investors access to roughly 4,000 event contracts listed on Kalshi. The product, built in partnership with the US-based Kalshi, covers categories including financial markets, economic indicators and climate, and follows regulatory approval granted earlier this year.

The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) authorized Wealthsimple to offer prediction market contracts in March, making it the second investment dealer approved by the regulator to offer such trading in Canada. The contracts will be regulated as derivatives and are required to have settlement periods of at least 30 days.

Kalshi is simultaneously pushing beyond its prediction markets roots. The company said on Thursday that its perpetual futures products are now live for trading, following a May 31 announcement marking its entry into crypto perpetual futures. In May, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved Bitcoin perpetual futures contracts for Kalshi and issued a no-action position allowing Coinbase to offer similar products.

That expansion has drawn a legal challenge from an established derivatives incumbent. CME Group sued the CFTC on Thursday over its approval of cryptocurrency perpetual futures contracts offered by Kalshi and comparable products from Coinbase, arguing the regulator misclassified the products under federal law. The filing came a day after CME CEO Terrence Duffy said on CNBC's Fast Money that the exchange planned to challenge the approvals in court.

Other venues are also moving into the space. Coinbase recently expanded US institutional access to global crypto derivatives markets, while Kraken launched perpetual futures trading this week through its CFTC-regulated Bitnomial exchange. Prediction market platforms, meanwhile, continue to face regulatory pushback in multiple jurisdictions: Spanish regulators ordered internet providers to block access to Kalshi and Polymarket in May, Indonesia banned Polymarket after contracts tied to President Prabowo Subianto surfaced, and South Korea and Japan have flagged concerns over Polymarket-linked transfers.