Revolut Wins Conditional OCC Approval for U.S. Bank Charter

Kalshi operates a designated contract market regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and argues that its event contracts are federally supervised derivatives rather than wagers subject to state licensing. The dispute tests where financial regulation ends and gambling oversight begins, with major implications for prediction-market operators, state consumer-protection regimes and the CFTC’s claim to exclusive jurisdiction under the Commodity Exchange Act.

On Aug. 28, 2026, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that Kalshi had not shown the Commodity Exchange Act was likely to preempt Nevada gaming laws. The court affirmed the dissolution of an injunction covering sports-event contracts and sent questions involving election contracts back to the district court. No monetary damages were awarded. The decision conflicts with the Third Circuit’s approach, prompting the CFTC to signal a potential Supreme Court fight.

Kalshi is a U.S. event-contract exchange regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where users trade on outcomes ranging from politics to economics. Former Republican Representative George Santos could directly determine whether he attended President Donald Trump’s 2026 State of the Union, making his trades on that outcome a test of rules barring participants with influence over an event. The case highlights insider-trading and manipulation risks as prediction markets expand and face closer regulatory scrutiny.

Kalshi said on Aug. 31 that its Compliance Department had reasonable cause to believe Santos used false or misleading public statements to move prices while trading contracts tied to his attendance at the Feb. 24 address. Santos earned $17,839, according to the company. The lifetime ban took effect Aug. 28, blocks direct and indirect access, and carries a $71,356 penalty, Kalshi’s first permanent suspension. Separately, Santos settled a CFTC case in July for about $35,000, including disgorgement and a civil fine.

Prediction markets let traders buy contracts tied to future outcomes, including whether a president will use a particular word or phrase in a speech. KalshiEX operates as a CFTC-regulated designated contract market, putting such contracts within federal derivatives oversight. The action marks the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s second insider-trading case involving a federal employee’s use of nonpublic government information in event contracts, underscoring growing concern about conflicts and market integrity as political prediction markets expand.

The CFTC on Aug. 28, 2026, settled charges against Gabriel Perez, a former White House teleprompter operator. It said Perez used advance access to President Donald Trump’s speeches to trade Kalshi presidential “mention market” contracts from December 2025 through February 2026, earning $107,539.02. Perez must disgorge the full profit and pay a $65,000 civil penalty, bringing the total payment to $172,539.02. He also accepted a three-year trading ban; the reduced penalty reflected what the agency called exemplary cooperation.

ACI Worldwide, a provider of real-time payments and banking software, is moving to strengthen its card-processing portfolio with the acquisition of UK payments technology company Cranium Ventures. Cranium’s Connetic for Cards platform uses a cloud-native, microservices architecture for card switching, allowing financial institutions to deploy, scale and update payment functions more flexibly than with traditional monolithic systems. The deal reflects growing demand among banks and processors for modular infrastructure that can support faster product development and modernization.

ACI Worldwide said it has agreed to acquire Cranium Ventures and plans to add Connetic for Cards to its card-switching and payment-processing capabilities. The companies did not disclose the purchase price, an expected closing date or other financial terms. ACI also did not provide a timetable for integrating the technology or quantify the transaction’s anticipated contribution to revenue or earnings. The acquisition is intended to broaden ACI’s cloud-native offering by adding a microservices-based switching platform for card issuers and payment processors.

OpenPayd, a London-based payments infrastructure platform serving roughly 1,200 corporate clients worldwide, has been expanding its compliance footprint as it pursues deeper access to the US market. Operating money transmission services legally across the United States requires securing individual money transmitter licenses (MTLs) state by state, a process regulators use to vet cross-border payment providers before they can move funds domestically. For international fintechs, accumulating licenses across a broad swath of states is a critical prerequisite for offering seamless payment services to American clients and counterparties.

OpenPayd said it has secured money transmitter licenses in 43 US states through the integration of MSB USA, establishing a compliant operating base in the country and enabling direct support for its 1,200 global clients' US payment needs. The announcement comes as OpenPayd prepares to list on the Nasdaq via a merger with special-purpose acquisition company Titan Acquisition at an implied valuation of $1.145 billion. The multistate licensing milestone is being positioned as a step that accelerates the company's path toward the planned Nasdaq listing.