Kalshi Denies Faking Crypto Volume, Blames Paid Market Maker

The defense is more revealing than the accusation. Kalshi is confirming it pays a market maker to post liquidity, and that this paid participant was the losing side of the flow — which means the visible volume partly reflects an incentive structure, not organic demand. That distinction matters for anyone reading exchange data as a sentiment signal. Whether other venues with similar paid-liquidity programs face the same scrutiny is the open question.