“This law validates everything SafeBets was built to achieve. The zero-sum model has always been on a collision course with regulators because it requires users to lose money. We solved that problem at the architectural level. Every state that bans zero-sum prediction markets opens a new door for SafeBets.” — Alex Konanykhin, CEO, SafeBets
SafeBets (SafeBets.world), the world’s first risk-free financial prediction platform, today confirmed its full legal exemption from Minnesota’s newly signed law making it a felony to operate a prediction market in the state. The law, signed by Governor Tim Walz, takes effect in August 2026 and represents the most aggressive regulatory action ever taken against the prediction market industry in the United States.
The Minnesota statute defines a prediction market as any system that allows consumers to “place a wager on a future outcome.”
SafeBets users conversely never place a wager. No user ever deposits money, stakes capital, or risks financial loss on the platform. Under this definition, SafeBets does not meet the legal standard for a prediction market and is exempt from the law’s provisions.
The Architecture That Changes Everything
On conventional prediction market platforms, prizes are funded by other users’ losses. Every dollar a winner receives was deposited by a losing participant. This zero-sum transfer of funds between users is the legal mechanism that state regulators classify as gambling.
SafeBets operates on an entirely different model. The platform monetizes the collective intelligence of its oracle community by deploying verified prediction signals to trade financial markets across cryptocurrency, commodities, equities, and currencies. Prize pools are funded by market inefficiencies captured through proprietary trading. No user funds the prize pool. No user’s loss creates another user’s win.
This positive-sum architecture means SafeBets requires no “consideration” from participants — the legal element that triggers gambling classification across virtually every US state and international jurisdiction. The result is a platform that is compliant with anti-gambling laws everywhere zero-sum platforms are not.
The Regulatory Landscape
The Minnesota law does not stand alone. The prediction market industry is facing an accelerating wave of state-level enforcement:
- Arizona filed 20 criminal charges against Kalshi in March 2026
- The federal government has filed lawsuits against five states attempting to assert federal jurisdiction over the industry
- A Nevada court found Kalshi’s sports market offering “indistinguishable from state-regulated sports gambling”
- 38 state attorneys general have formally filed briefs opposing the zero-sum prediction market model
- More than 20 active lawsuits are currently pending across multiple jurisdictions
- Bills seeking to ban the industry have been introduced in at least eight states, with Hawaii and North Carolina pursuing statewide prohibition
Polymarket is currently banned for US users. Kalshi faces active criminal charges and cease-and-desist orders in multiple states.
And SafeBets can operate without restriction in all 50 US states and across 135 countries.
About SafeBets
SafeBets (SafeBets.world) is the world’s first risk-free financial prediction platform. Users predict the prices of publicly traded financial assets. Accurate predictions earn prizes in Unicoin, the network token of SafeBets. Positioned as the Smart Coin for Smart People, mined through proof-of-intelligence, Unicoin is scheduled to ICO on September 28, 2026. No user ever deposits money, places a wager, or risks financial loss. The SafeBets concept is discussed here.
Through affiliated trading companies, SafeBets will be trading on crypto, commodity, stock, and currency markets based on Collective Intelligence of its most accurate predictors, distributing half of the resulting profits as rewards. The platform seeks to reach 200 million users by 2030.
