Blockchain.com files for federal licenses to run US event-contract exchange
DeFi & Yields ·
The crypto platform applied to the CFTC for two separate licenses that would let it operate its own regulated prediction-market and derivatives venue rather than lean on outside partners.
Blockchain.com confirmed to CNBC that it has submitted applications for a designated contract market designation and a futures commission merchant designation, according to Decrypt. The first would authorize it to function as a futures exchange listing event contracts, while the second would let it act as a broker handling derivatives trades, together covering both retail and institutional users in the US.
Currently, Blockchain.com's exposure to this market runs through outside arrangements: a partnership with Polymarket has supplied prediction-market access for some customers abroad this year, alongside perpetual futures routed through the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid. Securing its own CFTC licenses would eliminate that reliance on third parties and allow the company to house asset management, derivatives trading, and event betting under one regulated roof, a goal its CEO and co-founder described to CNBC.
The filing arrives as a wave of companies pursue the same federal route. Blockchain.com is now among 12 firms that have applied for designated contract market licenses this year, with six approvals already granted by the CFTC in 2026, per figures cited by CNBC. Part of the draw is jurisdictional: holding a CFTC license offers insulation from state gambling regulators, who have brought suits against prediction-market operators including Kalshi and Polymarket.
That tension between state and federal oversight is playing out in real time. The CFTC has forwarded proposed rules to the White House intended to solidify its jurisdiction over these markets, while a separate legal dispute over whether event contracts qualify as federally regulated swaps — involving the NFL and Kalshi — has reached the Supreme Court's attention.
The push also reflects the sector's growth trajectory: trading volumes in prediction markets have climbed sharply over the past year, and analysts at Bernstein have forecast the industry could become a $10 trillion market generating billions in revenue by the decade's end. Separately, the application is being viewed alongside reports that Blockchain.com is targeting an IPO valuation of $4 billion to $6 billion, as noted by The Block. Still unresolved is when the CFTC might rule on the applications, and how the pending Supreme Court case could reshape the regulatory landscape these licenses would operate under.