Kalshi contract wash trading? Kalshi crypto lead's remarks questioned by Polymarket team member

Recently, CNBC reported that Kalshi's perpetual contract trading volume surpassed the $1 billion mark within a week of its launch. John Wang, head of Kalshi's crypto division, subsequently posted on X: "Kalshi Perps reached $1 billion in trading volume in its first week, and the product hasn't even been publicly released yet." He also noted that it took prediction markets 3.5 years to achieve a similar trading volume scale. Polymarket team member Mustafa Aljadery appeared in the comments to congratulate him, while inquiring about the perpetual contract's OI (Open Interest) data, hinting at potential wash trading on Kalshi.

Furthermore, many community members in the comments section also expressed skepticism about the data, emphasizing that it might reflect trading volume without fees or leverage. Some even pointed out that Kalshi's OI data was only around $4.5 million.