Wall Street banks tighten prediction market rules for staff as insider fears spread
Major Wall Street banks are tightening or considering restrictions on employee use of prediction markets over insider-trading concerns. Goldman Sachs reportedly banned staff from trading event contracts tied to areas like financial markets, macroeconomic events, elections, and geopolitics. Morgan Stanley and Bank of America also have or are developing similar policies. The move follows growing scrutiny from US regulators and lawmakers after cases suggesting profits from nonpublic workplace information, including a reported $1.2 million Polymarket gain by a Google engineer. Separately, Polymarket is trying to expand in the US by seeking approval to offer margin trading through an affiliate, which would let users bet with less upfront capital. Its rival Kalshi already has US authorization for margin trading. Prediction markets have also seen surging activity, with Polymarket and Kalshi hitting record volumes.
