Prediction markets are often discussed as places to trade views on elections, sports, weather, and economics. A new AI tool called Blanket is trying to push that idea in a very different direction by helping small businesses find Kalshi contracts that could offset real-world financial risks.
Financial economist Lauris Zminsky created Blanket, which operates independently of Kalshi, although publicly available Kalshi markets power the tool. The basic pitch is straightforward: tell Blanket what could hurt your business, and its AI engine searches for event contracts that might help soften the financial blow.
From Hurricanes to Fuel Prices
Imagine you own a Florida restaurant worried about hurricane season, a delivery company concerned about rising fuel prices, or a business that struggles during unusually warm winters. Those are exactly the types of situations Blanket is designed to analyze.
Users describe the problem in plain language, then the system takes roughly 30 seconds to identify relevant Kalshi markets and explain how each could relate to that exposure. Blanket can currently help businesses explore risks connected to areas including:
- Weather and natural events
- Fuel and transportation costs
- Freight and tariff changes
- Major sporting events
- Economic conditions affecting operations
The important part is what happens next. Blanket doesn't execute trades, hold money, or operate as an exchange. Users who find a relevant opportunity are routed to Kalshi, where account verification, compliance, and execution occur.
Giving Main Street a Wall Street Tool
This is where the concept gets particularly interesting. Large corporations have spent decades using sophisticated financial products to hedge risks that could hurt their businesses. A small restaurant or local service company rarely has a derivatives desk or a relationship with a major investment bank ready to design a custom hedge.
Zminsky sees prediction markets as a way to narrow that gap. Event contracts take something uncertain, such as a weather event or economic outcome, and turn it into a transparent market with defined rules and pricing. Blanket essentially adds a discovery layer on top. Instead of expecting a business owner to search through thousands of contracts and figure out what fits, the AI attempts to connect the operational problem with the available market.
Sometimes the Answer is No Market at All
One of Blanket's more useful features may be what happens when it can't find anything. Rather than forcing a recommendation, the system can tell users that no suitable Kalshi contract currently exists. It can then display similar markets and record the missing contract as a signal of what businesses might actually want.
That gives Blanket a second potential use. Beyond helping businesses discover existing contracts, it could provide valuable information about real-world risks that aren't yet represented in prediction markets.
A Different Side of Kalshi's Growth
Kalshi has already been working with businesses interested in using event contracts to manage uncertainty. Nicolas Hull, who leads the company's small-business hedging efforts, described the category as a growing area for Kalshi, with businesses exploring protection from weather, major events, freight costs, and tariffs.
Blanket could make that process more accessible because a business owner doesn't need to start by having a conversation with Kalshi. They can simply describe what's keeping them up at night and see whether a relevant market exists. That moves prediction markets closer to a practical risk-management infrastructure rather than a product used only to express opinions about future events.
The Trade Handle Prediction Markets Take
Blanket is one of the more interesting examples we've seen of prediction markets being used for something beyond speculation. Helping a local business manage hurricane exposure or transportation costs is a very different use case from simply taking a position on what happens next. We think that matters for the industry's long-term development.
If prediction markets can make tools once reserved for large financial institutions accessible to ordinary businesses, their value becomes much easier to understand. Blanket is still an experiment, but it offers a glimpse of what event contracts could become when the focus shifts from predicting the future to actually managing its consequences.