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Visa has updated its insider trading policy to prohibit employees from using material nonpublic information to trade or influence prediction market contracts, becoming the latest major U.S. company to address compliance risks tied to platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket.
The policy change, approved by Visa’s board on July 14 and reported July 15, aligns prediction market activity with the company’s broader insider trading rules.
The payments giant, which employs more than 34,000 people worldwide, joins a growing list of financial institutions tightening internal rules as prediction markets expand beyond sports into politics, financial markets and corporate events.
Visa tightens prediction market trading rules
Visa’s policy follows similar restrictions adopted by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which have limited employee participation in many prediction market contracts because of concerns over conflicts of interest and the potential misuse of confidential information.
Rather than banning all prediction market activity, these firms have generally carved out exceptions for sports and entertainment markets while restricting contracts tied to finance, politics and individual companies, according to news by Bloomberg Law.
The trend reflects a broader shift in how corporate compliance departments view event contracts, treating them similarly to other financial instruments that could be influenced by material nonpublic information.
Insider trading concerns shadow prediction markets
Corporate policy changes come as prediction markets face heightened scrutiny over allegations that some traders have profited from advance knowledge of political and government events.
Among the highest-profile cases is Gabriel Perez, a longtime teleprompter operator for President Donald Trump, who is alleged to have earned more than $100,000 by placing trades on events tied to Trump’s public appearances before they became public knowledge.
The case has become a prominent example in the ongoing debate over whether prediction markets create new opportunities for insider trading, according to news by The Wall Street Journal.
Lawmakers, regulators and private companies have increasingly responded by implementing new guardrails governing who can participate in these markets and under what circumstances.
Fortune 500 firms eye prediction market restrictions
Visa’s decision adds momentum to a broader corporate effort to manage compliance risks associated with prediction markets.
As these platforms continue to attract users and expand into new event categories, additional Fortune 500 companies could revise their insider trading and ethics policies to explicitly address prediction market participation.
The rapid growth of prediction markets has prompted employers to balance employee participation against legal, reputational and compliance concerns, particularly for workers who routinely have access to confidential business or government information.
