$700M in Iran war bets and $1.2M in suspicious profits push Washington toward prediction-market crackdown

Polymarket and Kalshi are trying to raise money at valuations that put them in the top tier of consumer-fintech names, even as Washington moves closer to writing new rules for the product they sell. Both companies are reportedly in early fundraising talks that could value each at around $20 billion. That fundraising chatter is taking place in the middle of a political storm. Iran-related contracts turned prediction m…