Robinhood opposes a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by the Ho-Chunk Nation against KalshiEx LLC and Kalshi Inc, as part of a lawsuit in the Wisconsin Western District Court. On January 20, 2026, Robinhood Derivatives, LLC and Robinhood Markets, Inc., collectively referred to as Robinhood, submitted their response, emphasizing the potential harm an injunction could inflict on their business.
In its filing, Robinhood argued that preventing Kalshi from offering sports-related event contracts on Indian lands would disrupt its federally authorized event contract operations. The company highlighted that Kalshi’s exchange plays a critical role in facilitating Robinhood customers’ event contract orders, and an injunction would interfere with the federal regulatory framework. Consequently, Robinhood warned that both Kalshi and itself would suffer substantial and irreparable harm if the court restricted these activities.
Robinhood outlined two main concerns. First, an injunction could force Kalshi to halt nationwide sports-related event contract offerings for months while it explores a geofencing solution. Second, even after implementing such a solution, Kalshi might still struggle to operate on parts of Wisconsin outside the plaintiff’s lands due to technical limitations in geofencing small parcels of Indian territory. Both scenarios, Robinhood stressed, would directly impact its ability to serve customers.
Robinhood Opposes Ho-Chunk Nation Injunction Motion
As a futures commission merchant (FCM), Robinhood cannot process customer event contract orders without access to a designated contract market (DCM), and Kalshi is one of only two DCMs enabling sports-related event contract trading for Robinhood. Losing access would force Robinhood to cancel orders, liquidate positions, and suspend trading, resulting in major disruption, customer losses, and diminished goodwill. Robinhood further noted that in Wisconsin alone, over 10,000 customers have traded more than 100 million sports-related event contracts, most on Kalshi’s exchange.
Nationwide figures are significantly higher. Moreover, the effect would extend beyond sports-related contracts, as these customers frequently trade stocks, options, and cryptocurrencies. The company also emphasized that current geofencing technology cannot reliably block trading on Indian lands. Robinhood can only approximate locations using home addresses or IP data, which is often inaccurate due to small and irregularly shaped tribal territories.
Developing precise GPS-based geofencing would require months of work, substantial cost, and consent from users to share location data. Robinhood’s filing underscores the significant operational and customer impact that a preliminary injunction could create, while highlighting the technical and regulatory challenges of restricting trades on Indian lands.
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