Who gets to block your Kalshi bets? Washington just escalated the fight

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's November 5 demand gives US derivatives exchanges 30 days to remove domestic geographic restrictions that violate its impartial-access rules or explain why compliance is not feasible. That puts fresh federal pressure on the geographic controls the Sixth Circuit said could coexist with prediction market Kalshi's federal obligations. The conflict centers on geofencing: using a trader's location to determine which markets they can access. The CFTC now says otherwise eligible US participants generally should not be excluded by geography. In September, the Sixth Circuit reasoned that exchanges could use geographic limits while meeting federal obligations.