MrBeast fires NC editor accused of insider trading on prediction market Kalshi
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Beast Industries fired editor after Kalshi accused him of trading on non-public info.
- Kalshi, a prediction market, suspended the North Carolina resident from its platform.
- The federal government asserts regulatory authority over prediction markets.
Beast Industries, the Greenville holding company for YouTube star MrBeast, has fired a North Carolina video editor accused of insider trading through one of the leading prediction market platforms, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told The News & Observer. The editor, Artem Kaptur, was dismissed Monday.
On Feb. 25, the platform Kalshi alleged Kaptur had traded on “non-public information” he acquired from his role within Beast Industries. Prediction sites like Kalshi and Polymarket allow people to bet on a wide range of current events, including sports, elections, which words get said during corporate earnings calls, war death tolls, and weather.
Kalshi didn’t share what topics it determined Kaptur bet on, but one reoccurring market on its platform allows wagers on what MrBeast will say in his next YouTube video. The prediction company claimed Kaptur made $5,400 in profits from “improper” trading activity. Kalshi suspended him for two years and levied a $20,000 fine.
Kaptur, who online databases indicate is a Greenville resident in his early 20s, did not respond to requests for comment. Beast Industries says it opened an investigation into his activity following Kalshi’s announcement.
“Beast Industries has no tolerance for this behavior, whether by contestants or our own employees,” the company wrote in a statement Wednesday. “We have a longstanding policy in place against employees using proprietary company information which safeguards the highest standards and ethics throughout our organization.”
MrBeast is the online moniker of 27-year-old Jimmy Donaldson. He began making videos in Greenville as a teenager, with early viral stunts including zany tasks (like counting to 100,000) and cash giveaways to strangers around his Eastern North Carolina hometown. As his fame grew, Donaldson’s videos grew more elaborate. He has also extended his business into new ventures like chocolate, startup investing, and a popular Amazon Studios’ reality competition called “Beast Games,” with Season 2 mostly filmed between Greenville and Wilmington.
The popularity of prediction markets has exploded even more recently than the North Carolina YouTuber. In contrast to traditional gambling, these sites don’t facilitate bets against “the house,” but instead connect people to enter future contracts with one another. Contract values fluctuate leading up to the events.
Kalshi and Polymarket, the two biggest U.S. prediction market platforms, have seen their values soar, with Kalshi in December announcing it had raised $1 billion at an $11 billion valuation.
‘Insider trading erodes trust’
Artem’s case was one of the first two trading violations Kalshi has ever publicized. Like its rival Polymarket, the platform has been criticized for enabling people to profit off non-public information. Newly created accounts have bet on recent U.S. military operations in Venezuela and Iran hours ahead of the actions, which prompted some lawmakers to call for tighter restrictions. And ahead of this year’s Super Bowl, Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour declined to say it would be insider trading if a Bad Bunny backup dancer were to wager on the pop signer’s opening halftime song.
Kalshi insists it takes trading on non-public information seriously. “Insider trading erodes trust,” Mansour posted last month on X. “When people believe a market is unfair, they stop trading.”
Unlike sports betting, which is managed state-to-state, prediction markets are regulated by the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The day Kalshi announced its MrBeast findings, the CFTC issued an advisory asserting it “has full authority to police illegal trading practices” on designated contract markets.
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, a Trump appointee confirmed in December, has been an ally to the emerging prediction markets. “These markets are really important to have here in the United States,” Selig said during a panel this week at The Milken Institute. “We’ve seen the disinformation, the hoaxes, the fake news, and all of the ability of certain individuals to control gatekeepers and make sure that the polls say what they want them to say right before an election, but the prediction markets tend to get it right.”
In February, the CFTC joined a lawsuit arguing prediction market oversight should exclusively reside with the federal government, not states. During The Milken Institute panel this week, Selig said prediction market operators will receive government guidance “in the very near future.”
As the only member currently sitting on the five-member CFTC board, Selig can set oversight rules on his own.
This story was originally published March 6, 2026 at 6:00 AM.
