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FollowingBlockchain.com applies for a CFTC license to provide event contracts
Blockchain.com is applying for a license from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to provide event contract services. The move came two weeks ago, when a second federal appeals court ruled that states could treat sports contracts as gambling.
Event contracts are tradable bets on whether a specific event occurs, ranging from Federal Reserve interest rate decisions to NFL game results. To legally list in the United States, the trading platform needs to be approved by the CFTC and become a designated contract market (DCM).
According to law firm K&L Gates, the agency has approved 12 new DCMs since the beginning of 2025, and 14 applications are still pending as of the end of August. Blockchain.com has joined this queue.
The market size has increased 21 times a year.
predicts that market transaction volume will reach approximately US$188 billion in the third quarter of 2026, an increase of nearly 70% from the previous quarter and approximately 21 times that of a year ago.
This growth is mainly driven by Kalshi, which holds a significant market leader. Sports contracts account for approximately 40% of Kalshi's quarterly turnover.
Currently, Kalshi has open interest values of US$1.59 billion, while its main competitor Polymarket has open interest values of more than US$679 million. Previous reports pointed out that thanks to distribution support from platforms such as Robinhood, Coinbase, Webull and Moomoo, Kalshi controls approximately 96% of non-sports transactions on these two platforms.
Jurisdictional dispute
The market that Blockchain.com has entered has been mired in disputes over the ownership of regulatory powers.
On September 25, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati ruled that Ohio and Tennessee could apply gambling laws to event contracts. Previously, different courts had ruled differently on the matter: the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that Kalshi's contract was subject to Nevada gambling laws, while the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that New Jersey rules did not apply.
These differences raise the possibility that the issue could reach a decisive moment in the Supreme Court. In addition, multiple states have filed lawsuits against Kalshi, Polymarket and several other prediction market platforms.
New York Governor Casey Hoher said the state filed a lawsuit against Polymarket in late September, saying it was operating an unlicensed gambling operation that put residents, especially minors, at risk. Polymarket said it would fight for its user rights.
The CFTC strives to take regulatory lead
The CFTC has federal supervisory authority to regulate these markets and claims to have sole authority in the market. This led to conflicts with states that challenged the proposition.
In May, the agency filed a brief arguing that federal derivatives laws override state rules that apply to exchanges regulated by the CFTC. A rule-making proposal in June would rewrite its event contract rules to define what a "game" is and specify when contracts would harm the public interest.
9 月 22 日，CFTC 工作人员发布指导文件，指出若合约的最终结算可由单一指定人员影响，则存在操纵风险。
CFTC 主席 Mike Selig 在一篇帖子中表示：“你不能像管理赌场那样管理交易所，却期望获得与联邦监管市场相同的保护。”他补充道，预测市场应满足美国金融业适用的标准。
来自其他方面的压力也在加剧。10 月 8 日（星期四），NFL 提交了法庭之友意见书，敦促最高法院在 Flaherty v. Kalshi EX 案中，将体育赛事合约归类为赌博而非互换合约。同时，NFL 请求法院允许各州监管预测市场。
Kalshi 不同意 NFL 的立场，理由是 CFTC 已经对体育市场进行监管。法院尚未同意受理此案。
这一案件的裁决结果对新进入者 Blockchain.com 至关重要。州级监管可能会增加许可和合规成本，并稀释流动性。伯恩斯坦（Bernstein）预计，到 2035 年年度交易量可能达到 10 万亿美元，但预计美国要到 2027 或 2028 年才能出现明确的监管环境。
