Today in crypto, Polymarket’s rival prediction marketplace Kalshi raised $300 million to expand into 140 countries worldwide, Democratic Party senators were criticized for proposing a DeFi restriction list, and Roger Ver has reportedly reached a deal with the US Justice Department to avoid prison over tax charges.

Kalshi raises $300 million to expand prediction markets to 140 countries

United States-based prediction marketplace Kalshi closed another major funding round to bring its platform to more than 100 countries worldwide.

Kalshi completed a Series D funding round of over $300 million led by Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation by Paradigm, the company announced on Friday.

The platform is immediately available in over 140 countries, Kalshi said in a statement shared with Cointelegraph, adding that it has now emerged as the “world’s only unified global prediction market and instantly added billions of new potential customers.”

The latest $300 million raise came months after Kalshi closed a separate $185 million funding round in June, which was led by Paradigm and also featured Sequoia.

Kalshi’s Series D funding brought the company’s valuation to $5 billion, up $3 billion from its previous raise in June.

In addition to Sequoia, a16z and Paradigm, the new funding round attracted additional investors, including CapitalG, Coinbase Ventures, General Catalyst and Spark Capital.

On the heels of a fundraising round valuing Kalshi at $5 billion, the platform also announced its international expansion with an immediate launch in several new markets.

“International users can now access the platform via the Kalshi website with an identical product experience to American users,” the company said.

Backlash as Democrats propose “restricted list” for DeFi protocols

Despite previously supporting a crypto market structure bill, several Democratic Senators have reportedly introduced a counter-proposal that could see decentralized finance protocols placed on a “restricted list” if deemed too risky.

This move, among others they proposed, could “kill DeFi,” according to its critics.

The Senate Banking Committee Democrats sent a proposal to the committee’s Republicans on Thursday seeking to impose Know Your Customer rules on the frontends of crypto apps — including non-custodial wallets — and stripping protections from crypto developers, several industry commentators said on Thursday, citing a report from Punchbowl News.

Among those commentators was crypto lawyer Jake Chervinsky, who said the counter-proposal could kill any chance of establishing a crypto market structure framework, noting that it could undermine the bipartisan support the CLARITY Act had already secured in the House in July, where it passed 294-134. 

“It’s so bad. It doesn’t regulate crypto, it bans crypto,” Chervinsky said, pointing to a suggested measure permitting the Treasury Department to create a “restricted list” for DeFi protocols it considers are too risky, making it a crime for anyone who uses them.

Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger said the proposal, if implemented, would make it impossible for industry players to comply and push local innovators offshore.

Source: Summer Mersinger

Roger Ver reaches tentative agreement with US DOJ over tax charges: Report

Bitcoin advocate Roger Ver, known to many in the crypto industry as “Bitcoin Jesus,” has reportedly reached a deal with the US Department of Justice that could allow him to avoid prison time.

According to a Thursday New York Times report, Ver’s lawyers reached a tentative agreement with US authorities that would require the Bitcoin (BTC) advocate to pay $48 million in taxes he owed from his crypto holdings. The Justice Department charged Ver with mail fraud and tax evasion in April 2024, seeking to extradite him from Spain to stand trial.

The New York Times reported that Ver has ties with figures connected to the administration of US President Donald Trump, including hiring lawyers who previously worked for the president. He also reportedly paid $600,000 to political consultant Roger Stone, a Trump adviser, to lobby for changes to US tax laws.

The reported deal followed a series of regulatory and legal actions under the Trump administration softening on legal cases involving digital assets. At the time of publication, the tentative agreement did not appear on the public docket for Ver’s case in the US District Court for the Central District of California.

The initial indictment alleges that Ver falsely reported on tax forms related to his crypto holdings. He and two of his companies, MemoryDealers and Agilestar, allegedly held about 131,000 BTC in 2014. The DOJ said he attempted to evade paying taxes on his assets by renouncing his US citizenship and later becoming a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis.