The US Senate unanimously passed S. Res. 708: banning senators from trading prediction markets, effective immediately

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed S. Res. 708 on April 30, banning all senators and their staff from trading on prediction market platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi—effective immediately. The bill’s sponsor, Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, said the move is intended to block a potential insider channel in which lawmakers place bets on prediction markets using non-public government information. The direct trigger for the incident was an insider trading case in which U.S. military Special Forces sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke used classified information from the Madurao military operation to bet on Polymarket and profit $409.9k—this week also coincided with Polymarket’s signing of Chainalysis to roll out an “industry-first” on-chain market integrity detection solution.

S. Res. 708 unanimously passed: Senators and staff immediately restricted from trading prediction markets

Sponsored by Bernie Moreno (Republican, Ohio), S. Res. 708 went into effect immediately after unanimous approval by the full chamber. The core restriction is that all senators and their staff may not trade on prediction market platforms such as Polymarket, Kalshi, and others where users can bet on political outcomes, policy decisions, and other event results. The Senate sidesteps insider-trading concerns through “self-binding,” consistent with the logic of the STOCK Act previously applied to lawmakers trading stocks—because lawmakers themselves hold non-public information, they must first exclude themselves from the regulated markets.

The context for this move is the impact of the Van Dyke case. Prosecutors allege Van Dyke used his position to obtain military secrets related to Venezuela President Madurao’s military operation, placing 13 bets on Polymarket totaling $33k and pocketing $409.9k. It is the first time in prediction market history that an active-duty service member has been charged for betting using national secrets. On the same day as the Polymarket-Chainalysis cooperation announcement, the Senate passed a self-regulatory resolution, pushing the policy momentum behind “compliant prediction markets” to new heights.

Kalshi and Polymarket both welcomed: upgrading “self-regulatory commitments” into law

At the time of the incident, both Kalshi and Polymarket expressed support for the Senate resolution. The two platforms already had platform rules prohibiting such trades, but said they are glad to see the “self-regulatory commitment” strengthened into legally binding obligations at the Congressional level. For both platforms, the legislative move carries a public-relations upside—since lawmakers themselves will lead the way by stepping aside, the legitimacy of prediction markets as “compliant financial instruments” is more firmly established, which in turn may help expand reach to institutional and retail users.

From an industry perspective, this resolution and the Polymarket-Chainalysis cooperation are aligned forces. On one side, platforms use Chainalysis detection models to sweep out insider trading; on the other, Congress uses S. Res. 708 to exclude the potential largest group of insiders (lawmakers) from participating. Together, these two forces push the issue of “prediction market credibility” onto the track of mainstream financial assetization, and also pave the way for Polymarket’s ongoing $400 million fundraising (with a $15 billion valuation) and the CFTC deregulation talks.

Next to watch: whether the House and the executive branch will follow suit, and state-level legislation

S. Res. 708 applies only to the Senate; the House has not yet followed with a corresponding resolution. Whether executive-branch officials and White House staff should also be brought under the scope of the ban is the next focus. With prediction markets steadily moving into the mainstream, similar legislation could trigger chain reactions in state legislatures—especially in states such as Texas and Florida that have already passed crypto-friendly laws, which may further restrict state lawmakers from using prediction markets. For Polymarket and Kalshi, legislative limits on lawmakers’ trading may reduce their potential user base, but the compliance validation is far more strategic value than revenue from a small number of insider traders.

This article U.S. Senate unanimously passes S. Res. 708: bans senators from trading prediction markets, effective immediately was first published on Chain News ABMedia.