Polymarket and Kalshi both list event contracts priced in cents on the dollar. Traders buy and sell a position on whether a stated outcome occurs. The contract type is covered in prediction markets.
Kalshi is the exchange run by KalshiEX LLC, a CFTC-designated contract market. The market at polymarket.com settles on Polygon and rejects new orders from the United States. Polymarket US is a different exchange, QCX LLC, with its own CFTC designation.
Regulatory frameworks and oversight
Kalshi is operated by KalshiEX LLC. The CFTC designation record dates that status to November 3, 2020. A January 17, 2025 amended order of designation allows futures commission merchants to carry customer accounts there.
Polymarket at polymarket.com is not a designated contract market. Positions are tokens on Polygon, and the operator sets the questions, the fee table, and the geographic blocks. QCX LLC, doing business as Polymarket US, was designated on July 9, 2025.
The Polymarket name therefore covers an on-chain venue and a separate U.S. contract market.
Payment and settlement infrastructure
Kalshi accounts are denominated in U.S. dollars. The July 7, 2026 fee schedule lists no Kalshi fee for ACH deposits or ACH withdrawals. Debit-card deposits carry a Kalshi fee of up to 2%. Wire withdrawals are not offered below $500,000.
Eligible accounts in the United States and its territories accrue a variable 3.50% rate, as of October 2026, when the portfolio is at least $250. Daily accrual uses cash plus the value of open positions. Kalshi pays the interest monthly from what it receives from banking partners. Interest above $10 in a year requires a Social Security number on the account.
Polymarket settles the international venue on Polygon. Trading collateral is pUSD, an ERC-20 token backed by USDC. USDC is a dollar stablecoin, covered in stablecoins. The fee documentation states no Polymarket fee to deposit or withdraw USDC. A card or exchange on-ramp can still charge its own fee.
Kalshi holds customer cash at the exchange. The international Polymarket documentation describes wallet addresses and smart contracts as the place the tokens sit.
Market categories and availability
Kalshi series on the July 7, 2026 fee schedule include CPI, GDP, Fed decisions, sports championships, and awards. A designated contract market self-certifies new contract types with the CFTC before they list.
Polymarket groups the international markets, for fees, into crypto, sports, finance, politics, economics, culture, weather, tech, mentions, and geopolitics. Polymarket US runs a separate order book. Its September 2026 CFTC fee notice prices contracts from $0.01 to $0.99 and does not publish that category table.
An on-chain market can list under its own rules. A DCM adds a filing step before a new contract type trades.
Fee structures and trading costs
Kalshi charges the general taker fee when an order matches immediately. The July 7, 2026 schedule uses 0.07 times the contract count times the price times one minus the price, then rounds up. At $0.50, the published table shows $1.75 on 100 contracts.
Resting orders pay nothing unless that series is on the maker-fee list. Some series use a multiplier of 0, including certain bitcoin price-range contracts, so the formula charges no exchange fee. The schedule lists no settlement fee and no membership fee.
The taker fee is due when the order matches. A later loss does not refund it. A later gain is not what triggers it.
Polymarket charges international takers with the contract count times a category rate times the price times one minus the price. The fee is quoted in USDC. Makers pay a zero rate.
Crypto uses 0.07, so 100 shares at $0.50 cost $1.75. Politics, finance, mentions, and tech use 0.04, so that trade costs $1.00. Geopolitics uses a rate of 0. Taker fees in the charged categories fund maker rebates. The crypto share is 20%, politics is 25%, and sports is 15%.
Polymarket US uses a coefficient in the same price shape. A CFTC fee notice set the taker coefficient to 0.0695 on September 17, 2026, up from 0.06. The maker rebate coefficient in effect on October 15, 2026 is a flat minus 0.0125.
An October 2, 2026 CFTC filing replaces that flat rebate on October 19. Prior-month maker volume below $10 million then gets no rebate. The higher tiers use minus 0.0035, minus 0.0070, and minus 0.0104. The taker coefficient stays 0.0695.
Structured Comparison: Polymarket vs. Kalshi
| Dimension | Polymarket international | Kalshi |
|---|---|---|
| Regulatory status | Not a U.S. DCM. QCX LLC (Polymarket US) is a separate CFTC DCM, designated July 9, 2025. | CFTC DCM. KalshiEX LLC, designated November 3, 2020. |
| Collateral | pUSD on Polygon, backed by USDC | U.S. dollars |
| Funding charge | No Polymarket fee on USDC deposits or withdrawals | No Kalshi ACH fee. Debit deposits up to 2%. |
| New U.S. orders | Close-only. New orders are blocked. Existing positions can close. | Accepted, with identity checks |
| Other countries | Some countries are fully blocked or close-only | Many countries can apply under the member agreement, as of March 2026 |
| Cash interest | Not stated in the fee documentation | 3.50% variable on eligible U.S. portfolios of at least $250, as of October 2026 |
| Settlement | On-chain on Polygon | Exchange order book. No settlement fee on the July 2026 schedule. |
Geographic access and restrictions
Kalshi is not limited to U.S. residents. Its help center, as of March 2026, says people in many other countries can apply under the member agreement. Those accounts do not get ACH. The listed international deposit methods are debit cards, wires with a $1,000 minimum, and cryptocurrency. The 3.50% accrual program is limited to eligible users in the United States and its territories.
Polymarket marks the United States close-only on polymarket.com. A person there can close a position and cannot open a new one. The same rules fully block some countries and set others to close-only. Polymarket US is the designated contract market under that brand. It is not the Polygon venue.
Common misconceptions
A CFTC designation does not make the payout certain. Contracts on Kalshi and on Polymarket US can still expire worthless if the outcome goes the other way. The on-chain venue works the same way when a market resolves against the position. Designation sets surveillance and listing rules.
On-chain settlement does not erase the operator. Polygon records the token transfer. Polymarket writes the question, the fee rate, and the list of blocked places.
Kalshi is not the only designated contract market in this pair of brands. QCX LLC has a designation dated July 9, 2025. A price on one order book can differ from a price on another, because each book has its own bids.
