MrBeast Employee Fined, Suspended by Kalshi for Insider Trading on YouTube Videos
Kalshi disclosed enforcement actions against two traders for insider trading on its prediction markets platform. One case involved Artem Kaptur, a YouTube video editor for MrBeast, who used non-public information gained from his job to trade around $4,000 on markets predicting content in MrBeast videos. Kalshi fined Kaptur over $20,000 and suspended him for two years, citing “near-perfect trading success” as evidence flagged by surveillance systems. The second case involved Kyle Langford, a California Republican political candidate, who bet $200 on his own gubernatorial campaign. Kalshi fined Langford $2,200 and banned him for five years, classifying such wagers as market manipulation. Both cases were referred to the CFTC. Kalshi plans to donate collected fines to a nonprofit focused on derivatives education and intends to release quarterly updates on enforcement. Kalshi emphasizes strict monitoring of traders with insider access to event outcomes and positions these actions as setting a regulatory standard in a sector seen as lightly policed.
