Luana Lopes Lara didn’t just build a unicorn— she overturned a 100-year old ban, sued the regulators and became the youngest self-made female billionaire in the process. Luana co-founded Kalshi, the CFTC-regulated prediction market that lets you trade on the outcome of real-world events. Kalshi is one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the country; in fact, since Sammi spoke with Luana, Kalshi’s valuation has gone from $5 billion to $11 billion.
Luana shares the ripple effects of the 2024 election on the business, the decision framework around which events are “tradeable,” the psychology of Kalshi users, and why she thinks prediction markets might rival stock exchanges sooner than anyone expects.
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Today Luana and Sammi discuss:
00:00 Luana Lopes Lara’s Social Currency
02:14 The Early Days of Kalshi
02:41 The Role of Ballet in Business
04:20 Understanding Prediction Markets
07:09 The Brutal Regulation Process
14:31 Marketing and Growth Strategies
16:18 The Impact of the 2024 Election
27:23 Sports and Other Popular Trading Categories
29:37 Ethics of Prediction Markets
33:33 User Behavior
37:55 Hot Takes and Future Trends
39:24 Social Currency Corner
46:24 How to Show Social Currency Some Love
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