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MrBeast's company fired a video editor
after Kalshi accused the employee of insider trading
[March 06, 2026]
By JAMES POLLARD
NEW YORK
(AP) — Beast Industries fired a MrBeast video editor this week following
accusations of insider trading by the prediction market operator Kalshi.
Kalshi announced last month that a user who traded about $4,000 on
streaming markets related to MrBeast videos with “near-perfect” success
turned out to be an employee of Beast Industries who “likely had access
to material non-public information.” Kalshi suspended the editor from
its platform for two years, fined him $20,000 and alerted federal
regulators. |
Jimmy Donaldson, the popular YouTube video maker who goes by MrBeast, is
seen at an MLS soccer match between Inter Miami and CF Montreal, March
10, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File) |
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A
spokesperson for Beast Industries, founded by Jimmy Donaldson,
said the roughly 500-person company has “no tolerance for this
behavior" and has initiated an independent investigation. Jeff
Housenbold, the company's president and CEO, told CNBC that he'd
taken action several months ago to bar trading by MrBeast
employees and contestants for Beast Games, Donaldson's popular
Amazon Prime reality-competition show.
The incident places YouTube's biggest channel, which rose to
fame with Donaldson's stunt-based challenges often involving
large cash giveaways, in the middle of debates over whether
prediction markets are a form of gambling and how they are
regulated. Kalshi is one of several popular platforms that allow
participants to wager on the probable outcome of events. Bets
can be placed on everything from the Super Bowl halftime show to
the downfall of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The Beast Industries spokesperson called on Kalshi and other
exchanges to communicate their findings more openly. Housenbold,
who previously sat on the board of the casino company Caesars
Entertainment, told CNBC's “Squawk Box” last week that
prediction markets are “ripe for abuse." The practice certainly
looks like gambling, he said, adding that the government must
make that determination.
Prediction markets are currently regulated by the federal
Commodity Futures Trading Commission and not state gambling
authorities. Critics have said prediction markets and regulators
need to do more to prevent instances of insider trading.
“You could be a third-party cameraman on set and know what the
first song in the rehearsal is for a singer. You can be the
person reviewing a script and knowing what the end result is,”
Housenbold said. “There’s so much information out there and it’s
asymmetric and people are taking advantage of that.”
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