Kalci fined MrBeast’s editor for insider trading in the markets related to the YouTube star

Predictions Market Kalshi has accused an editor of YouTube’s most popular content creator, MrBeast, of insider trading on the platform.

After the investigation, Kalci said he “found reasonable cause” to believe that that editor, Artem Kaptur, used non-public inside information about MrBeast’s videos to inform his betting on matters related to MrBeast’s YouTube channel.

Prediction markets like Kalshi and competitor Polymarket allow users to place bets on a wide range of future events, such as who will win a political election, how many albums a particular musician will sell in a week, or when a sequel to a popular film will be announced.

Calci didn’t reveal the specific bets Kaptur placed on MrBeast, but some markets on the platform allow users to bet on what words a video creator will say during an upcoming video — private information that a video editor can practically influence. Kalshi users can also trade when MrBeast gets married, or when his company Beast Industries announces an IPO.

A spokesperson for Beast Industries told TechCrunch that the company does not tolerate this behavior, and that this attitude extends to company employees, as well as contestants on MrBeast’s Amazon Prime show “Beast Games.” Contestants are also made aware that their knowledge of confidential information prevents them from participating in the relevant prediction markets.

“With regard to this particular matter, we have already begun an independent investigation as part of our ongoing comprehensive efforts to ensure the integrity of our workplace and trust with our global audiences,” the spokesperson told TechCrunch. “We welcome Calci – and hope that others in the field – will take this issue seriously as well, but it will only work if they are willing to communicate their findings, so we hope they will be more open to it in the future.”

Kalci says Kaptur traded for about $4,000 on YouTube’s streaming markets in August and September 2025. He made a profit of $5,397.58, prompting Kalci to fine him that amount, as well as a $15,000 fine. Calcicaptor was also banned for two years. The company said in its blog post that it would donate the fine to a non-profit consumer education organization.

Kalci also fined Kyle Langford, a candidate for political office in California, who traded about $200 on his own candidacy and then posted about it on social media.

The markets on platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket are so vast that it is difficult to ensure that users who trade on them are not using private knowledge to their advantage, which is against the rules. When it comes to securities like stocks, similar behavior is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison.

The possibility of manipulating these markets has drawn attention among US lawmakers.

Last month, a Polymarket user suspiciously bet $32,000 on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro being removed from power by the end of January — and just hours later, Maduro was seized by the US military, and that user received $400,000 in compensation.

In response, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) proposed legislation that would make it illegal for government employees to trade in prediction markets related to government policy, government actions, or political outcomes.

Tarek Mansour, Kalshi’s CEO, said in a Linkedin post last month that he supports the bill, since Kalshi already complies with the rules it would impose. He claimed that the alleged insider trading instances do not occur on US-based platforms (both Kalshi and Polymarket are based in the US).

“This US bill applies only to regulated US companies, not to unregulated non-US companies, which is where the alleged problems occur,” Mansour wrote. “Prediction markets, like any industry, are not a monolith: there are important differences that matter.”

Updated 2/25/25 at 3:45pm ET with comment from Beast Industries.