DEX in the City: How Kalshi’s Rough Week Became a Federal Fight for Prediction Markets
Unchained | Jul 23 2026 | 00:49:38
The CFTC pulled a power last used in the Carter era to rescue Kalshi. Katherine, Jessi, and Vy Le on what it means — plus Japan’s crypto tax cut and DTCC’s tokenization leap.
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Kalshi had a rough week. Sued by Michigan, hit with a restraining order, then rescued by a CFTC emergency power invoked only four times in the agency’s history, most recently during Jimmy Carter’s Cold War grain embargo.
Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, Jessi Brooks, and Vy Le untangle how a fight over sports event contracts became a battle over federal preemption, why Kalshi also pulled its flight cancellation contracts under public pressure, and the insider-trading allegation swirling around a Trump teleprompter operator.
They also cover Japan’s new financial instruments law, which cuts crypto’s tax rate from as high as 55% to a flat 20% and is already pulling Amazon Japan’s delivery drivers onto yen stablecoins. Then there’s DTCC’s live settlement of tokenized securities with JPMorgan, Goldman, and BlackRock, which Vy Le argues could end the era of synthetic wrapper tokens. And the Clarity Act, still stuck on ethics and yield disputes as the midterms eat into Congress’s calendar.
The episode closes on a rare bright note: pseudonymous investigator ZachXBT turning impersonation memecoins into charity donations for Venezuela’s earthquake victims.
Host:
Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel. Previously held senior legal roles across DeFi and centralized exchanges.
Jessi Brooks, General Counsel at Ribbit Capital
Vy Le - Co-host of DEX in the City and General Counsel of Veda
Timestamps
📱 00:40 Cape: Get 33% off six months of privacy-first mobile service at https://cape.co/unchained
🎙️ 01:04 Kalshi's rough week begins: how a Michigan lawsuit over sports contracts became a federalism fight
🗂️ 06:34 Why the CFTC's break glass emergency power has only been invoked four times ever
⚖️ 14:40 Why Kalshi pulled its flight cancellation contracts under public backlash
🕵️ 18:40 The insider trading allegation involving Trump's longtime teleprompter
🇯🇵 21:39 Japan's new law cuts crypto taxes to a flat 20 percent
🏦 35:12 DTCC's live settlement of tokenized securities with JPMorgan, Goldman, and BlackRock
🏛️ 43:44 Why Clarity's odds are shrinking as the midterms eat into Congress's calendar
🤝 46:11 ZachXBT turns impersonation meme coins into charity for Venezuela's earthquake victims
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
========================================================
Thank you to our sponsor!
Cape: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet,
it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier
that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they
happen. Get 33% off your first six months at https://cape.co/unchained
(use code: UNCHAINED).
========================================================
Kalshi had a rough week. Sued by Michigan, hit with a restraining order, then rescued by a CFTC emergency power invoked only four times in the agency’s history, most recently during Jimmy Carter’s Cold War grain embargo.
Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, Jessi Brooks, and Vy Le untangle how a fight over sports event contracts became a battle over federal preemption, why Kalshi also pulled its flight cancellation contracts under public pressure, and the insider-trading allegation swirling around a Trump teleprompter operator.
They also cover Japan’s new financial instruments law, which cuts crypto’s tax rate from as high as 55% to a flat 20% and is already pulling Amazon Japan’s delivery drivers onto yen stablecoins. Then there’s DTCC’s live settlement of tokenized securities with JPMorgan, Goldman, and BlackRock, which Vy Le argues could end the era of synthetic wrapper tokens. And the Clarity Act, still stuck on ethics and yield disputes as the midterms eat into Congress’s calendar.
The episode closes on a rare bright note: pseudonymous investigator ZachXBT turning impersonation memecoins into charity donations for Venezuela’s earthquake victims.
Host:
Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel. Previously held senior legal roles across DeFi and centralized exchanges.
Jessi Brooks, General Counsel at Ribbit Capital
Vy Le - Co-host of DEX in the City and General Counsel of Veda
Timestamps
📱 00:40 Cape: Get 33% off six months of privacy-first mobile service at https://cape.co/unchained
🎙️ 01:04 Kalshi's rough week begins: how a Michigan lawsuit over sports contracts became a federalism fight
🗂️ 06:34 Why the CFTC's break glass emergency power has only been invoked four times ever
⚖️ 14:40 Why Kalshi pulled its flight cancellation contracts under public backlash
🕵️ 18:40 The insider trading allegation involving Trump's longtime teleprompter
🇯🇵 21:39 Japan's new law cuts crypto taxes to a flat 20 percent
🏦 35:12 DTCC's live settlement of tokenized securities with JPMorgan, Goldman, and BlackRock
🏛️ 43:44 Why Clarity's odds are shrinking as the midterms eat into Congress's calendar
🤝 46:11 ZachXBT turns impersonation meme coins into charity for Venezuela's earthquake victims
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices