Compare Kalshi and Paradex on TVL, fees, revenue and activity to understand how these projects stack up.
Kalshi is a CFTC-regulated event derivatives exchange where users trade binary yes/no contracts on real-world outcomes. Each contract settles at $1 if the event occurs and $0 otherwise, creating a direct, transparent market for probabilistic pricing across politics, economics, sports, weather and more. Founded in 2018 and designated as a U.S. Designated Contract Market, Kalshi operates under federal commodities law rather than state gambling rules, enabling legal trading nationwide. The platform combines traditional exchange infrastructure with compliance tooling including KYC/AML screening, IC360 monitoring for sports-related markets, and real-time surveillance for insider or anomalous activity. Backed by Sequoia, YC, and industry figures such as Charles Schwab and Henry Kravis, Kalshi pioneered regulated event contracts and in 2024 became the first U.S. exchange in over a century to legally list election markets.
Paradex is a high-performance derivatives exchange offering zero-fee perpetuals, deep liquidity and zk-encrypted account privacy on a custom Starknet-based L2. Traders access 250+ markets across futures, dated and perpetual options, and spot via unified margin, with listings that often precede major CEXs. The platform integrates retail price improvement, institutional-grade risk controls and tokenized high-yield vaults, all powered by the DIME token and Paradigm-backed infrastructure.