Brazil Blocks 27 Prediction Market Platforms, Including Kalshi and Polymarket, After Ministry Directive

Brazil blocked access to 27 prediction market platforms, including Kalshi and Polymarket, after a directive from the Ministry of Finance and enforcement by the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel), according to Agência Brasil as cited by Cointelegraph.

The decision was announced Friday and followed a directive tied to Resolution 5.298 issued by Brazil’s National Monetary Council (CMN), with the new rules taking effect in early May, Cointelegraph reported.

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Under the new rules described by Cointelegraph, contracts tied to sports, politics, entertainment, or social events are banned, while only contracts linked to economic indicators such as inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, or commodity prices remain allowed.

Cointelegraph also reported that Finance Ministry executive secretary Dario Durigan said Brazil had suffered “a period of anarchy because there were no rules, no oversight, from 2018 to 2022,” during a press conference at the Palácio do Planalto.

The Block similarly described a sweeping ban, saying Polymarket and Kalshi were inaccessible to a researcher at The Block based in the country, and that the central bank’s resolution cited risks for investor protections and market integrity.

The Block and Cointelegraph both tied the crackdown to a CMN resolution and enforcement that rendered platforms inaccessible in Brazil.

The CMN resolution at the center of the ban draws a line between derivatives tied to economic benchmarks and derivatives tied to other real-world outcomes, and multiple outlets quoted that boundary in different ways.

Cointelegraph said the new rules “sharply limits what prediction market platforms can offer,” and that “contracts tied to sports, politics, entertainment, or social events are banned,” while “Only contracts linked to economic indicators, such as inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, or commodity prices, will remain allowed.”

BitKE

Cryptopolitan likewise described Resolution No. 5,298 as prohibiting derivative contracts based on non-economic events like sports, political elections, and cultural outcomes, and it said Anatel was instructed to shut down the domains of affected platforms in late April 2026.

The Block provided a longer quoted passage from the central bank’s resolution, stating: “The offering and trading in the country of derivative contracts whose underlying assets are related to the following are prohibited: A real sporting event, virtual online gaming event and a real or virtual event of a political, electoral, social, cultural, entertainment, or any other nature that, at the discretion of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is not representative of an economic or financial benchmark,”.

iGamingToday framed the same restriction as a prohibition on “prediction market” models that were “found to be working as gambling betting sites without being approved,” and it said the resolution adopted on April 24 restricts companies to derivatives markets relating to financial or economic indicators with supervision from the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM).

Across the coverage, the common thread is that event-based contracts are treated as outside the permitted derivatives framework, while economic-indicator-linked contracts are the remaining category.

Brazil’s finance leadership and other government figures framed the ban as a consumer-protection and debt-reduction measure, with multiple outlets quoting the same officials.

“Brazil has blocked 27 prediction market platforms, including Kalshi and Polymarket, as new rules classify many contracts as gambling”

Cointelegraph

Cointelegraph reported that Durigan claimed prediction markets could deepen household debt and expose users to financial harm, and it quoted him saying: “At a time when we are working to reduce debt levels among families, small businesses, and students, we must also prevent new forms of harmful indebtedness,”.

Cryptopolitan similarly said the President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration attributes rising household debt, in part, to unregulated online gambling, and it described Finance Minister Dario Durigan emphasizing that the ban aims to protect citizen savings and curb rising household debt.

Decrypt also quoted Durigan saying the platforms violated betting regulations approved by the Brazilian Congress and that blocking them would protect citizens' savings amid government efforts to reduce debt levels, including the statement: “We have advocated for stricter enforcement and very rigorous regulation, which will continue to advance, so that we can curb the negative externalities and social harm that unregulated gambling causes to the Brazilian population,” Durigan said.

Decrypt added that Chief of Staff Miriam Belchior said the measure aims to “protect income, prevent financial losses, and reduce families' exposure to unsafe practices.”

BitKE echoed the same framing, quoting Belchior that “The measure aims to prevent the consolidation of a new betting market, the so-called prediction market, to stop it from becoming uncontrolled. From our point of view, if this were to happen, it would pose enormous risks to the Brazilian population,” and it also quoted Durigan saying the platforms operate outside rules approved by Congress.

The ban list described by Cointelegraph includes both international and Brazil-focused prediction platforms, and it names multiple companies that were blocked.

Cointelegraph said the blocked platforms include Kalshi, Polymarket, PredictIt, Robinhood (via its forecasting feature) and Fanatics Markets, and it also listed other affected platforms including ProphetX, Hedgehog Markets, Novig, Polyswipe, PRED Exchange and Stride.

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It further named Brazil-focused services such as Palpita, Cravei, Previsao, and MercadoPred.

The Block’s coverage focused on Polymarket and Kalshi, saying “both Kalshi and Polymarket were inaccessible to one researcher at The Block based in the country,” and it described the central bank’s resolution as the basis for the non-compliance finding.

IndexBox reported that Finance Minister Dario Durigan told reporters in Brasilia that “a total of 28 companies had been blocked,” and it said Daniele Cardoso confirmed Polymarket had been blocked while not confirming whether Kalshi was among the shut-down platforms.

Across the sources, the number of blocked entities varies between 27 and 28, with Cointelegraph and other outlets describing 27 platforms while IndexBox cites 28 companies and CryptoRank describes 27–28 platforms, illustrating that the exact count differs by outlet even when the same operators are named.

The Brazilian crackdown is presented by the sources as part of a broader global pattern of prediction-market restrictions, while also highlighting differences between jurisdictions and ongoing legal disputes.

“Skip to content * ANPRMBRLCEACFTCKalshiNMCPolymarket Brazil bans prediction markets, blocks Kalshi and Polymarket By Collins J”

Cryptopolitan

Cointelegraph said a growing number of jurisdictions have moved to ban prediction markets, often folding them into gambling or financial regulations, and it named France, Belgium and the Netherlands as examples of European nations that have blocked or penalized platforms operating without authorization.

CryptoRank

Decrypt said the crackdown reflects mounting global pressure on prediction markets and cited Portugal restricting Polymarket access in January, while multiple U.S. states have taken action, including Wisconsin filing lawsuits against Kalshi, Robinhood, Coinbase, Polymarket, and Crypto.com on Friday alleging their sports event contracts violate the state's commercial gambling ban.

The Block similarly described the U.S. situation as more permissive at the federal level, saying “Today, the CFTC takes a permissive view of prediction markets and is currently suing several states that are looking to ban the nascent sector,” and it added that as of Friday, Wisconsin was the most recent state to lodge a lawsuit against Kalshi, Robinhood, Coinbase, Polymarket, and Crypto.com.

Cryptopolitan also discussed divergence with the United States, saying Brazil’s CMN adopted a restrictive, categorical approach that effectively bans event-based prediction markets, while the U.S. CFTC classifies event contracts as “swaps” under the Commodity Exchange Act because their value depends on an event happening.

IndexBox said B3 SA explored entering the prediction-markets space and confirmed it will launch six new contracts on April 27 tied to the Ibovespa equity index, Brazil's real currency and Bitcoin, while it studied expanding to include event-based contracts and sought a legal opinion on whether Brazilian law allows contracts tied to electoral outcomes.