Clients of Kalshi Prime will be able to borrow against bitcoin, ether and stablecoins held at BitGo, then use the money as margin for perpetual futures on Kalshi’s exchange, the CFTC-regulated company said in a statement on Wednesday 21 October, according to Bloomberg. The loans will come from Kalshi Katalyst, a lending affiliate of Kalshi Prime, with the coins secured at BitGo Bank & Trust. No interest rate, loan-to-value ratio or start date was given for these Kalshi bitcoin margin loans.
Bloomberg’s Emily Nicolle and Bernard Goyder published the story at 14:26 UTC. Bitcoin Magazine followed the same day and credited Bloomberg. We found no Kalshi press release or product page: the Kalshi Prime page showed only a regulatory notice when we checked on Wednesday afternoon, so the details here come from those two reports. Bloomberg writes that clients “will be able to” borrow, and neither report says a single loan has been made yet.
For Kalshi, the prediction market that built its name on event contracts, this is one more piece of a derivatives business it has put together in five months: a bitcoin perpetual approved in May, metals and an index after that, a broker partner from November, and now a way to post crypto without selling it.
How the Kalshi bitcoin margin loan works: borrower, lender and BitGo
Bloomberg describes a tri-party structure. The borrower is a Kalshi Prime client. The lender is Kalshi Katalyst. The third party is the agent that holds the collateral, here BitGo, with the assets kept at BitGo Bank & Trust, which Bitcoin Magazine describes as a federally chartered trust bank.
Kalshi Prime is Kalshi’s US-registered futures commission merchant, or FCM: the broker layer that stands between traders and the exchange, holds their margin and answers for their positions. Its chief executive is Jeff Bandman.
Put simply, a client leaves its coins in custody at BitGo, pledges them, receives a dollar loan from Katalyst and moves that money into its margin account at Kalshi. The bitcoin itself never goes to the exchange. What happens to it if its price falls far enough is one of the things Kalshi has not said.
Bandman, speaking in an interview reported by Bloomberg, listed the eligible collateral: bitcoin, ether and stablecoins deemed compliant with the GENIUS Act, the US stablecoin law that takes effect on 18 January 2027. Other custodians are expected to join Kalshi’s network “in due course”, Bloomberg writes. None is named.
His reasoning, as Bloomberg quotes it: “What we wanted to do was make it possible for customers to stay in crypto.” He cited investors who do not want to sell their bitcoin and a Latin American company that runs on US dollar stablecoins. He told Bloomberg he built it with “digitally native customers” in mind, and Bitcoin Magazine quotes him saying it was “designed with crypto-native traders in mind”, including those now on offshore perpetual venues.
Rate, loan-to-value and start date: what Kalshi has not disclosed
Neither report gives the terms that decide whether such a loan is cheap or expensive, safe or fragile. Missing as of Wednesday evening:
- The interest rate Katalyst will charge on the loans.
- The loan-to-value ratio, meaning how many dollars a client can borrow per $100 of bitcoin or ether pledged.
- What happens when the collateral loses value: margin calls, haircuts on ether or stablecoins, or a forced sale at BitGo.
- A start date, and which Kalshi Prime clients qualify, including whether individual traders can use it.
- Fees and leverage limits on perps funded this way.
The regulatory side is just as open. Kalshi Klear, the company’s clearinghouse, applied to the CFTC last month for permission to offer margin on some event contracts, Bloomberg reports, but the article does not say whether that filing has anything to do with Katalyst’s lending. Neither report says whether the loans need a separate CFTC approval. We found no statement from BitGo.
One point needs no terms sheet to understand. A trader who borrows against bitcoin to open a long bitcoin perpetual carries the same price risk twice: a fall shrinks the collateral behind the loan and hits the position at the same moment. The reports say nothing about how Kalshi, Katalyst and BitGo would handle that case.
Perpetual futures and margin, explained for newcomers
A perpetual future, or perp, is a contract that tracks the price of an asset and never expires. A periodic payment between buyers and sellers, called funding, keeps its price close to the spot market, Kalshi explains in its help centre. Traders do not pay the full value of the position. They post margin, collateral meant to cover possible losses, which gives them leverage on both gains and losses.
On Kalshi, “All users must apply for a margin account”, and that account is kept apart from the balance used for prediction markets, the help centre says. When the balance falls below the maintenance margin set for a position, Kalshi Klear closes the position to stop further losses. That is a liquidation, and it happens automatically.
Until now that margin account held dollars. The BitGo route lets crypto stand behind it indirectly, with a loan in the middle. Others have gone more directly. In late May the CFTC gave Coinbase Financial Markets a no-action letter that lets it accept bitcoin, ether and stablecoins as margin for perps routed through Coinbase Bermuda as foreign futures, CoinDesk reported. In Europe, Kraken’s Unified Wallet lets spot coins cover futures losses in cross margin.
From a CFTC order in May to Webull customers in November
The CFTC approved KalshiEX’s bitcoin perpetual, BTCPERP, on Friday 29 May. Its order requires Kalshi to “list and maintain the BTCPERP Contract in compliance with all applicable provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act”. CFTC chair Mike Selig said his approach would “limit excessive leverage, volatility and systemic risk”. CoinDesk added a caveat that still applies: the agency’s stance is not a formal rule, and later leadership could reverse it.
Kalshi’s contracts trade on KalshiEX LLC, a designated contract market, and clear through Kalshi Klear LLC, according to Bitcoin Magazine. The steps since May, by date:
| Date | Step | Reported by |
|---|---|---|
| 29 May 2026 | CFTC approves the BTCPERP contract on KalshiEX | CoinDesk |
| Early June 2026 | Bitcoin perpetual goes live on Kalshi | Bitcoin Magazine |
| September 2026 | Gold and silver perpetuals added; Kalshi Klear asks the CFTC to offer margin on some event contracts | Bitcoin Magazine, Bloomberg |
| Early October 2026 | US500 stock index perpetual added | Bitcoin Magazine |
| 20 October 2026 | Webull sets a November start for perpetual futures in the US | Webull, Bitcoin Magazine |
| 21 October 2026 | Kalshi announces loans against crypto held at BitGo to fund perps margin | Bloomberg |
Bloomberg adds that Kalshi has asked regulators to list perpetual-style products tied to oil and US stocks, without saying whether permission has come.
The distribution piece arrived on Tuesday. Webull said on 20 October that eligible US customers approved for futures will be able to trade perpetual futures from their existing Webull Futures accounts starting in November, with bitcoin and other crypto assets first and broader access expected before year-end, according to its press release. The release names the venue itself: the contracts list on KalshiEX LLC and clear through Kalshi Klear LLC. Anthony Denier, Webull’s group president and US chief executive, put the perpetual segment of global derivatives above $90 trillion in annual volume in 2025, a figure the release does not source, and said “we believe U.S. investors should have access to perpetual futures through a regulated platform they already know and trust”. Webull serves more than 29 million registered users worldwide, the release says, without saying how many hold a futures account. It gives no leverage levels or fees, only a promise to show margin requirements, funding rates and liquidation levels in the app.
Who Kalshi is chasing: offshore traders, crypto holders and Polymarket’s whales
The loan product points at a specific crowd. Bloomberg names holders who would rather not sell their bitcoin and companies that keep their treasury in dollar stablecoins. Bitcoin Magazine adds traders now on offshore perp venues, and writes that Kalshi has acknowledged a structural disadvantage against Polymarket, its offshore, blockchain-based rival, in the contest for large traders. The two have been racing to build perps since the spring, the outlet says.
Kalshi is also fighting on another front. Utah sued it on Monday, 19 October, alleging illegal sports gambling, a case we covered in our report on the Utah lawsuit. The margin loans have no link to that dispute.
Nothing in either report suggests the product will be offered outside the US. Kalshi Prime is a US-registered FCM, and the perps it funds trade on a US exchange.
What to watch next
The first test is a document. A Kalshi or BitGo page with the rate, the loan-to-value ratio and the liquidation rules would turn an announcement into a product people can price. The second is the CFTC’s answer to Kalshi Klear’s September request on event-contract margin. Webull’s rollout starts in November. The GENIUS Act takes effect on 18 January 2027, the point from which a stablecoin’s compliance with the law can actually be tested.