(PRESS RELEASE) -- The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana today announced the launch of the first tribal prediction market app through SaltTrade Derivatives, a newly established subdivision of a Tribal-owned enterprise. The new app will be powered by
Kalshi.
The partnership marks another significant step in the Tribe’s ongoing work to exercise its economic independence, diversify its portfolio, and build sustainable sources of revenue for future generations. It creates a path for other sovereign Tribal nations to participate as innovators in an emerging sector of the American financial economy.
Through the collaboration, the Tribe will draw upon Kalshi’s established infrastructure and market expertise to develop a distinct Tribal-owned trading application. Participants will be able to use the app to trade event contracts tied to the outcomes of future events in a structured marketplace on Kalshi with clearly defined rules and objectively verifiable results.
“This partnership represents exactly the type of opportunity Indian Country should be pursuing, where Tribes are owners, innovators and leaders, not just participants,” said Tunica-Biloxi Chairman Marshall Pierite. “For generations, the Tunica-Biloxi people have adapted, traded and built relationships that allowed our Nation to prosper. This initiative carries that tradition into the modern economy and demonstrates what is possible when Tribal entrepreneurship is paired with emerging technology and innovative vision.”
The initiative builds upon the Tribe’s history of establishing and overseeing enterprises that create economic opportunities. Through Tunica-Biloxi owned ventures such as MobiLoans, the Tribe has demonstrated its ability to operate responsibly in complex financial markets and build successful enterprises rooted in tribal tradition.
The Tribe’s new venture will focus on providing software for trading event contracts but may branch out into other offerings as opportunities arise. The app is being developed around market access, transparency and responsible oversight, with the Tribe bringing its experience with introducing customers to financial opportunities to the partnership.
“Tribal nations possess the business expertise to compete in the most innovative areas of the American economy,” Chairman Pierite said. “We are ushering in new opportunities for all Indian country and leading the effort to establish a framework through which Tribes across the country can create and control their own economic destinies.”
The announcement follows the issuance of a conditional no-action letter from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, providing an important framework for the Tribe’s participation in the industry, subject to the CFTC’s jurisdiction in the markets for event contracts and other derivatives it regulates. The venture also creates a pathway for Tribal nations to engage with the federal government and other tribal nations on a sovereign-to-sovereign basis while pursuing new opportunities for commerce and economic growth.
“Indian Country should have more paths to economic self-determination, not fewer and we're proud to partner with the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe as the first tribal nation to enter prediction markets, said Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour. “The debate can no longer be reduced to prediction markets on one side and Tribes on the other. What’s clear is that regulated national infrastructure and Tribal entrepreneurship can develop together — and one does not have to lose for the other to win.”
The partnership reflects the Tribe’s broader commitment to ensuring that Tribal nations are represented in the industries shaping the future of commerce. By moving into prediction markets with this application, the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe is creating a model through which Tribes can transform a longstanding tradition of adaptability and entrepreneurship into ownership, long-term revenue, and greater economic self-determination.
The venture’s name, SaltTrade Derivatives, honors the Tunica-Biloxi people’s history as pioneering salt traders who built prosperity through commerce and trade centuries ago. This newly announced venture continues that legacy of economic opportunity as a Tribal Nation, reflecting the Tribe’s enduring commitment to “cherishing our past and building for our future.”
Additional information regarding the platform and its launch will be announced in the coming months. Learn more about the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana and its enterprises at tunicabiloxi.org. Salttrade Derivatives will not be registered with the CFTC, in reliance on conditional no-action relief issued by the staff of the CFTC.