Kalshi ends Donald Trump Jr.'s advisory role over his firm's stake in rival Polymarket

Kalshi and Donald Trump Jr. have mutually agreed to end his advisory role at the prediction-market company, Kalshi said in a statement Thursday. Kalshi attributed the decision to a significant investment in rival Polymarket by 1789 Capital, Trump Jr.'s venture capital firm, which led a Polymarket funding round and put in $300 million over the summer. A Kalshi spokesperson said talks on ending the arrangement began in August and that political considerations played no part. Kalshi had named Trump Jr. a strategic advisor in January 2025, when he received an equity stake reported at $300,000. He still serves as an advisor to Polymarket. The move follows Democrats' majorities in both houses of Congress after the midterm elections, and Democrats have said they plan to use investigative powers on the president's family.

Right-leaning sources lead with the money: the New York Post stresses that 1789 Capital led Polymarket's funding round and invested $300 million, and it describes Democrats as threatening tougher scrutiny of prediction markets. Fox Business covers a separate Polymarket story, layoffs and contractor cuts in a restructuring, and notes the company disputed a 30% workforce-cut figure. Left-leaning Politico's excerpt covers only the mutual exit and Kalshi's attribution to 1789's investment. Alternative sources add that Kalshi's spokesperson denied political considerations, that two unnamed sources cited internal concerns about the Democratic sweep, and that CNBC reported Kalshi's CEO describing the link as an optics problem. All sides report the same core facts; they differ in emphasis, with the right stressing the investment size and scrutiny, and alternatives stressing political-timing and conflict-of-interest questions.