If you want to trade on a regulated US prediction market, you will be asked for your Social Security number. Kalshi requires identity verification before you can trade; Polymarket's US exchange requires a government-issued ID, your SSN and proof of residency; Novig and Robinhood verify every account. Polymarket's international platform is the notable exception — it requires no identity check to trade — and it is closed to US users.
Prediction market KYC — "know your customer" — confuses a lot of new traders, partly because the rules differ so much between venues and partly because the reasons are rarely explained. This guide covers what each major platform asks for, why regulated venues have to ask, why "no KYC" does not mean anonymous, what to do when verification stalls, and how identity checks connect to taxes and to the fight over insider trading.
| Platform | Identity verification | What you typically provide | Minimum age | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalshi | Required | Legal name, address, date of birth, SSN; sometimes an ID document | 18 | CFTC-regulated exchange; issues tax forms |
| Polymarket US | Required | Government-issued ID, SSN, proof of residency | Per its terms | CFTC-regulated exchange |
| Polymarket (international) | Not required on the main platform | A funded crypto wallet | Per its terms | Not offered to US users |
| Novig | Required | Identity and residency details | 21 | Regulated exchange for sports contracts |
| Robinhood | Required | Brokerage account verification | 18 | Regulated broker |
What KYC Means on a Prediction Market
Know-your-customer checks are the identity verification that financial institutions run before opening an account. At their simplest, they confirm that you are a real person, that you are who you say you are, and that you are allowed to use the service. On a prediction market, that usually means your legal name, address, date of birth and taxpayer identification number, checked against public and commercial databases, sometimes with a photo of an ID document and a selfie.
For most people the process takes a few minutes and happens once. For some, it stalls — a mismatched address, a recent move, a thin credit file — and the account stays restricted until it is resolved. Our walkthrough on making your first prediction market trade recommends completing verification when you open the account, not when you want to withdraw, and that advice saves a lot of frustration.
Why Regulated Platforms Verify Your Identity
Regulated prediction markets verify identity for the same reasons a brokerage or a bank does. The obligations come from several places at once.
Anti-money-laundering rules. Federal law requires financial intermediaries to identify their customers and report suspicious activity. A market that accepted anonymous money would be an obvious channel for laundering it. Our guide to how the CFTC regulates prediction markets explains the licence framework these venues operate under.
Sanctions screening. US platforms must not deal with people on sanctions lists, which requires knowing who their customers are.
State restrictions. Access to some contracts depends on where you live, particularly sports contracts in states that contest them. A verified address is how a platform enforces those limits. Our state-by-state legal map shows where the restrictions apply.
Tax reporting. Kalshi issues a 1099-MISC to users with reportable winnings, which requires your SSN. Without it, the platform cannot meet its reporting obligations.
Market integrity. Knowing who is trading lets an exchange enforce rules against people with inside information about an event, such as participants or officials. Identity is the starting point for any surveillance. Our analysis of prediction market insider trading regulation covers how that enforcement works and where it falls short.
What Kalshi Asks For
Kalshi requires verification before you can trade. Expect to provide your legal name, residential address, date of birth and Social Security number, and in some cases to upload an ID document. The information is used to confirm your identity and eligibility, to screen against sanctions lists, and to issue tax forms.
Most applications are approved quickly. The common problems are an address that does not match public records, a name that differs from the one on file with the Social Security Administration, and a recent move. The fix is usually to submit a document that shows the correct details. Kalshi is regulated by the CFTC as a designated contract market and settles in dollars; our Kalshi review covers the platform, and our assessment of whether Kalshi is legit covers the protections its licence provides.
Unverified accounts cannot withdraw. If you deposited before finishing verification, the withdrawal is where it catches up with you — our guide to withdrawing from Kalshi lists the other reasons withdrawals get held.
Polymarket: Two Platforms, Two Answers
Polymarket now runs two separate products, and the KYC answer depends on which one you use.
Polymarket US operates under CFTC oversight through QCEX, the licensed exchange Polymarket acquired in 2025. It requires mandatory verification before you deposit or trade, including a government-issued ID, your Social Security number and proof of residency. In that respect it works like Kalshi.
The international platform requires no identity verification to trade. You connect a crypto wallet, fund it with USDC and start trading. In May 2026, Polymarket stated that it was not adding KYC to its existing main platform, and that verification applied only to certain new products. The international platform is not available to US users and blocks access from restricted locations. Our guide to where Polymarket is legal covers which countries it serves, and our Polymarket review explains how the two products differ.
Novig, Robinhood and the Sportsbook-Run Apps
Novig, a sports-only exchange, verifies every account and requires users to be 21 or older, a stricter age limit than most prediction markets and the same one many states apply to sports betting. Our Novig review covers its eligibility rules and where it operates.
Robinhood handles verification through its existing brokerage onboarding, so anyone with a Robinhood account has already completed it; the event contracts are an extra product inside the same verified account. The prediction products launched by sportsbook operators work similarly, drawing on the account infrastructure their sportsbooks already use. Our reviews of FanDuel Predicts and DraftKings Predictions cover each one.
The practical upshot is that if you already have a verified account with one of these companies, the prediction market is usually a few taps away. If you do not, expect the same identity checks you would face opening a brokerage account.
"No KYC" Does Not Mean Anonymous
The international Polymarket platform does not ask who you are, but that is not the same as being anonymous, for two reasons.
The first is money. To fund a wallet with dollars, most people buy USDC through an exchange or on-ramp such as a major crypto exchange or a card payment provider, and those services run their own identity checks. The chain from your bank account to your trading wallet usually passes through at least one verified account. Our guide to depositing on Polymarket walks through the common routes.
The second is the blockchain. Polymarket's trades settle on Polygon, a public ledger. Every wallet's deposits, trades and withdrawals are visible to anyone, and analytics tools make it easy to trace activity — our Dune Analytics review shows how traders follow large wallets. A pseudonymous wallet linked to a verified exchange account is far from anonymous. The large French trader who bet heavily on the 2024 US election was identified as a French national, and France's gaming regulator moved to restrict Polymarket's access in the country that November.
What Happens When Verification Fails or Stalls
A stalled verification is usually a data mismatch rather than a problem with you. The most common causes are an address that differs from the one on your credit file, a name that includes or omits a middle name or suffix, a recent move, or a typo in the SSN or date of birth.
Work through them in order. Check that every detail matches your government records exactly. Upload the document the platform asks for — typically a driver's licence, passport, or a recent bank statement or utility bill for address. If the automated check still fails, contact support and ask what specifically did not match. Regulated platforms have a process for manual review, and a verified account is in their interest as much as yours. Our guide to depositing on Kalshi shows where verification sits in the sign-up and funding flow, so you can finish it before money is involved.
Do not open a second account to get around a failed check. Duplicate accounts break the terms of every regulated venue and can lead to both accounts being closed and funds being held.
What Verification Protects You From
Identity checks are usually presented as a burden, but they protect users as well as platforms. On a verified exchange, the people on the other side of your trades are identified customers subject to the same rules as you, which makes manipulation and wash trading easier to detect and punish. If your account is compromised, verification is what lets the platform confirm that you are the real owner and restore access.
Verification also gives you somewhere to go when things go wrong. A regulated venue has complaint procedures, and above it sits a federal regulator. An unverified wallet on an offshore platform has neither: if funds are frozen or a market resolves in a way you dispute, your options are limited to the platform's own processes. Our guide to how the CFTC regulates prediction markets explains what that oversight covers.
VPNs and Restricted Locations
Using a VPN to reach a platform from a location it does not serve breaks the terms of service of every major venue, including Polymarket's international platform. Platforms increasingly detect it, and the consequence can be a frozen account with funds you cannot easily recover.
The legal risk is yours, not the platform's. If you are in the United States, the regulated routes are Kalshi, Polymarket US and the other licensed venues; our guide to whether prediction markets are legal in the US explains what is available where you live.
Protecting Your Data
Handing over your SSN is a reasonable concern. Regulated platforms are subject to data protection obligations and to CFTC oversight, and they need the information for specific legal purposes. That does not make them immune to breaches, so basic hygiene applies: use a unique password, enable two-factor authentication, and be wary of any message asking you to re-submit identity documents outside the platform itself.
Only ever submit verification documents through the platform's own app or website. Phishing messages impersonating exchanges and asking for ID uploads are common across both crypto and traditional finance. Security practices are one of the factors we weigh when assessing platforms, as in our review of whether Polymarket is legit.
A Verification Checklist Before You Sign Up
A few minutes of preparation avoids most verification problems. Have your government ID to hand, and make sure the name you enter matches it exactly, including any middle name. Use the address that appears on your bank statements and credit file, not a mailing address. If you have moved recently, keep a utility bill or bank statement showing the new address ready to upload.
Complete verification before you deposit, not after. Check the minimum age and the list of restricted states for the platform you choose, so you do not fund an account you cannot use — our state-by-state legal map is the quickest way to check. And keep a record of what you submitted and when, in case you need to follow up with support. None of this is complicated, but traders who skip it are the ones who find their first withdrawal blocked.
Once you are verified, keep your details current. If you move, change your name or change banks, update the platform before your next withdrawal rather than after it; a mismatch discovered at the point of cashing out is the most common cause of a delayed payment. Keep copies of the documents you submitted, too, since support teams sometimes ask for them again when reviewing an account.
KYC and Taxes
Identity verification and tax reporting are linked. Because Kalshi knows who you are, it issues a 1099-MISC to users with reportable winnings, and the IRS receives a copy. Polymarket's international platform issues nothing, but that does not remove the obligation to report profits — it only means the platform does not report them for you.
The IRS has published no guidance specific to prediction markets, and three treatments are in common use: ordinary income, which most filers use; gambling, which is unfavourable because deductible losses are capped at 90% from tax year 2026; and Section 1256 treatment for regulated futures-style contracts, which is aggressive but arguable. Which one applies to you is a question for a tax professional, and the choice matters more the larger your winnings. Our prediction market tax guide covers them, and our ranking of the best prediction market apps notes which platforms issue tax forms. For how any of these venues works day to day, start with how prediction markets work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Kalshi require KYC?
Yes. Kalshi requires identity verification before trading, usually your legal name, address, date of birth and Social Security number, and sometimes an ID document. Unverified accounts cannot withdraw.
Does Polymarket require KYC?
Polymarket US, its CFTC-regulated exchange, requires a government-issued ID, SSN and proof of residency. The international platform requires no verification to trade but is not available to US users. See our guide to where Polymarket is legal.
Why does a prediction market need my Social Security number?
To meet anti-money-laundering and sanctions obligations, to confirm your eligibility, and to issue tax forms such as the 1099-MISC that Kalshi sends users with reportable winnings.
Is Polymarket anonymous?
Not really. The international platform does not verify identity, but funding usually passes through a verified exchange or on-ramp, and every trade is recorded on a public blockchain.
What should I do if my Kalshi verification fails?
Check that your details match government records exactly, upload the document requested, and contact support to ask what did not match. Do not open a second account.
Can I use a VPN to access Polymarket?
Using a VPN to reach a platform from a restricted location breaks its terms of service and can lead to a frozen account. US users should use licensed venues such as Kalshi or Polymarket US.
How old do you have to be to use prediction markets?
It depends on the venue. Kalshi and Robinhood require users to be at least 18, while Novig requires 21. Check each platform's terms.
Do I have to pay taxes if the platform does not send a 1099?
Yes. The obligation to report profits exists whether or not a platform issues a form. See our prediction market tax guide.
