Taiwan Court Orders Kalshi and Coinbase Blocked Ahead of 28 November Local Elections

Taiwan's New Taipei District Court has authorised a domestic block on the websites of US prediction market Kalshi and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase after a request from the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the National Police Agency. The court order, recorded in criminal ruling No. 55 of 2026 (115 Sheng-Kou No. 55), led Taiwan's communications regulator and internet registry to restrict access; Coinbase users in Taiwan reported outages from 14 October and Kalshi's public data still showed open mayoral markets on 19 October.

The court order and law cited

The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) sought the blocking order on the grounds that the sites were suspected of breaching the Public Officials Election and Recall Act. The CIB told Bloomberg the restrictions were requested to protect election integrity and to prevent "overseas interference." The Taipei Times carried Bloomberg's reporting on 16 October.

Article 103-1 of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act, added in the amendment promulgated on 9 June 2023, sets penalties for election betting conducted online or by telecommunications. The provision punishes anyone who bets money or property on the result of an election or recall with up to six months in prison, short-term detention, or a fine of up to NT$100,000 (approximately $3,100). Anyone who, for profit, provides a venue for such betting or gathers people to gamble on an election result faces up to five years in prison and an optional fine of up to NT$500,000 (approximately $15,400).

What was blocked and when

Coinbase's main domain became unreachable in Taiwan from Wednesday 14 October, with the Taiwanese crypto outlet BlockTempo testing the block and finding coinbase.com redirected to a court block page. BlockTempo reported that the block page cites the New Taipei District Court order and that there was insufficient public information to confirm whether Coinbase's app, API or subdomains were affected.

Kalshi's domain was also included in the court's restriction. Kalshi told Bloomberg it does not allow trading in Taiwan and that Taiwan appears among the 55 "Restricted Jurisdictions" listed in its member agreement. Despite that, Kalshi's public market data on 19 October showed open markets for the 28 November mayoral races in Taipei, New Taipei and Kaohsiung, and for which party would win the most mayoral and magistrate races. Kalshi's data showed about 266,000 contracts had traded in the Taipei market across its six candidates.

Polymarket had already been blocked in Taiwan earlier in the year; BlockTempo reported a block page seen in May citing a Miaoli District Court ruling under the same act. In April the Miaoli District Prosecutors Office said it had referred a bettor surnamed Huang under Article 103-1 for staking cryptocurrency on a Polymarket market on which party would win the most county and city mayoralties, the Central News Agency reported.

Why authorities acted and the legal logic

The CIB and prosecutors framed their requests around election integrity and foreign interference, not traditional gambling regulation. Prosecutors in Miaoli described election betting as a tool for outside forces to interfere in elections. The court that issued the New Taipei order was a criminal court rather than a gambling regulator, and the public block was carried out via Taiwan's communications regulator and internet registry.

A public market that is reachable from Taiwan is the enforcement target under Article 103-1's provision against providing a venue for election betting for profit. Kalshi's member agreement bars trading from Taiwan but allows membership and non-trading access in restricted jurisdictions, which the CIB's action treats as insufficient to prevent a market's jurisdictional exposure. The Czech Ministry of Finance used similar reasoning when it listed kalshi.com as unlicensed gambling.

"The websites were suspected of violating the election act and the restrictions were requested to protect election integrity and prevent 'overseas interference'," the CIB told Bloomberg.

Platform positions and distribution risk

Kalshi maintains that it does not permit trading by Taiwanese residents and lists Taiwan among its restricted jurisdictions, but its public market listings named Taiwan's Central Election Commission as a settlement source for a 2028 presidential market and displayed active local-election markets on 19 October. Coinbase confirmed to Bloomberg it was aware some users in Taiwan had access problems and said it was investigating the issue.

Distribution of another platform's contracts carries exposure for the distributor. Coinbase's Kalshi-powered predictions product has been visible on coinbase.com, and a DNS-level block on the domain prevents selective removal of a single product from the site. The article notes a precedent in the United States where Coinbase agreed to stop Michigan sports contracts under state pressure.

The immediate electoral context

Taiwan's Central Election Commission announced on 20 August that the 28 November vote will fill 11,051 local offices. The New Taipei District Court order arrived six weeks before that nationwide local election date. The authorities have separately warned that money from mainland China could be used to influence elections, Bloomberg reported, though no allegation has been publicly made that Coinbase or Kalshi handled funds from China.

A DNS block can be evaded with a VPN, and Taiwan has pursued individual bettors as well as platform blocks. The CIB's action highlights that election contracts remain the prediction market products carrying clear criminal exposure in Taiwan: listing or distributing such markets can be treated by prosecutors as providing a venue for election betting for profit.