Kalshi fined the editor of MrBeast for insider trading in markets related to the YouTube star

The editor of YouTube’s most popular creator, MrBeast, has been sued by prediction market Kalshi for insider trading on the platform.

After an investigation, Kalshi said he “found reasonable cause” to believe that the editor, Artem Kaptur, used non-public inside information about MrBeast’s videos to inform his bets on issues involving MrBeast’s YouTube channel.

Prediction markets like Kalshi and our competitor Polymarket allow users to bet on a wide variety of future events, such as who will win a political election, how many albums a certain artist will sell in a week, or when a sequel to a popular movie will be announced.

Kalshi didn’t disclose the exact bet Kaptur placed on Mr. Beast, but some markets in the area allow users to bet on which words creators will say in an upcoming video — confidential information a video editor can potentially influence. Kalshi users can also trade when MrBeast will get married, or when his company, Beast Industries, will announce an IPO.

TechCrunch has reached out to a Beast Industries representative for comment.

Kalshi says Kaptur traded about $4,000 in YouTube live streaming markets in August and September 2025. He made a profit of $5,397.58, prompting Kalshi to fine him that amount, plus a $15,000 fine. Kalshi also closed Kaptur for two years. The company says on its website that it will donate the fine to non-profits for consumer education.

Kalshi also fined Kyle Langford, a California political candidate, who traded nearly $200 to run for office, then posted about it on social media.

Markets on platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket are so large that it is a challenge to ensure that users trading on them are not using private information for profit, which is against the rules. When it comes to securities such as stocks, similar behavior is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison.

The potential for these markets to be targeted has attracted the attention of US lawmakers.

Last month, one Polymarket user suspiciously bet $32,000 that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would be removed from power by the end of January – a few hours later, the US military captured Maduro, earning that user a $400,000 payout.

In response, Representative Ritchie Torres (D-NY) proposed legislation that would make it illegal for government employees to trade in prediction markets related to government policy, government actions, or political outcomes.

The CEO of Kalshi, Tarek Mansour, in a Linkedin post last month, said he supports the bill, because Kalshi already complies with the laws it will implement. He said insider trading cases don’t happen on US bases (both Kalshi and Polymarket are based in the US).

“This American bill applies only to regulated, American companies and not to unregulated, non-American companies, which is where the problems arise,” Mansour wrote. “Prediction markets, like any industry, are not one thing: there are important differences.”