US Senate bill targets prediction markets on war and assassinations
Democratic Senator Adam Schiff introduced a bill to ban prediction markets related to war, death and terrorism amid escalating insider trading concerns related to military operations.
US Democratic Party Senator Adam Schiff introduced legislation Tuesday that would explicitly bar federally regulated prediction-market platforms from listing contracts tied to war, terrorism, assassination and individual deaths.
The bill, called the DEATH BETS Act, would amend the Commodity Exchange Act to make those contracts prohibited for entities overseen by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
In a statement announcing the bill, Schiff said markets that let traders profit from violent events create incentives for the misuse of classified information, threaten national security and encourage violence. He said prediction markets had become a “Wild West” and called for Congress and the CFTC to make clear that such “death bets” are not allowed.
