Samurai Katsumi

What is Samurai Katsumi?

In May, Selig wrote in a social media post on X that under Trump’s leadership, the nation became the “crypto capital of the world“. Moving forward, the absence of a law makes any rules or advisories issued by the CFTC or the Securities and Exchange Commission vulnerable to being reversed or challenged in court, according to CoinDesk. As of Thursday evening, Selig had not released a statement on the vote.

Prediction markets aside, the absence of crypto on a federal level may have some drag on the regulated industry, especially in the iGaming and sports betting space.

Younger patrons are increasingly familiar with crypto, but the lack of regulatory adoption in the regulated space can push bettors to offshore or unlicensed platforms, most of which do accept it. At the ICE Barcelona conference in 2025, a panel of international sports betting CEOs lamented the fact that they were barred from adopting crypto, while their black-market competitors were not.

What is Samurai Katsumi?

The operational infrastructure available to these new firms, however, remains underdeveloped. Gonzalez contrasts prediction markets with equities, where trading businesses can use prime brokers, clearinghouses and standardised systems such as FIX.

“When it comes to prediction markets, none of that exists,” he said. “Everyone that’s building in the prediction market space mostly starts from ground zero.”

Platforms were generally constructed for one person operating one account, rather than trading organisations requiring separate permissions and controls. According to Gonzalez, some teams still share a single login.

What is Samurai Katsumi?

Given the rise of prediction markets, this week arguably represents the most frenzied campaign since the historic PASPA decision in 2018. Buttressed by massive capital injection from substantial funding rounds, operators have spent handsomely on celebrity endorsements. Over the last week, ads featuring LeBron James, Sydney Sweeney, Marshawn Lynch and Jeremy Piven have showered the airwaves. Even Pete Sampras, who disappeared from the public spotlight for the better part of two decades, resurfaced in a US Open spot for Kalshi.

While Polymarket pulled off a coup with the signings of James, Eli Manning and Derek Jeter, a Novig ad featuring Sweeney arguably received as much fanfare. Sweeney, an Emmy Award-nominated actress known for her role in HBO’s Euphoria series, stars in the spot titled “Just Sports.” As of Friday afternoon, the Novig post on social media platform X received at least nine million views.

Throughout the ad, Novig throws shade on its rivals for offering niche markets on events such as the timeframe for when traders believe that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will be removed from office. Unlike operators such as Kalshi and Polymarket, Novig has opted to limit its offerings to purely sports. “No betting on wars, or deaths…or politics,” Sweeney mused.