In brief
- The CFTC has approved Polymarket to operate in the U.S., the company said, allowing the prediction market to onboard American users after years operating offshore.
- The move follows Polymarket’s acquisition of a regulated exchange, and comes amid a more permissive approach to prediction markets under the Trump administration.
- Boosted by high-profile investors and major brand partnerships, the platform has recently surged to record trading volumes.
Polymarket has officially received approval from the CFTC to operate in the United States, the company said Tuesday, nearly four years after the prediction market was pushed offshore for allegedly failing to comply with existing regulations.
Polymarket said it has received an Amended Order of Designation from the CFTC, greenlighting the crypto-backed betting site’s ability to operate as an intermediated contract market platform in the United States.
The company said it will now, effective immediately, be able to directly onboard U.S. customers and brokerages. It said it is also now permitted to work with intermediary merchants and other key elements of the American futures market.
The CFTC did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment regarding the approval.
Polymarket’s re-entry to the U.S. market has been expected for some time, particularly since the company’s July acquisition of a CFTC-regulated American derivatives exchange.
Under the second Trump administration, the CFTC has also taken a far more lax approach to regulating prediction markets like Polymarket—even as such platforms face increasing legal scrutiny for encroaching on established sectors like sports betting.
In July, the CFTC and the Department of Justice dropped investigations into Polymarket, which focused on whether the company was still doing business with U.S. customers.
In 2022, after paying a $1.4 million fine for operating a futures contract platform without a license to do so, the company exited the American market, despite continuing to be based in New York City.
Since that year, Polymarket has become far cozier with America’s political and cultural power centers. In August, the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., became an investor in the platform and a member of its advisory board.
In the second half of this year, the company has announced flashy partnerships with X, Google, the NHL, and the UFC.
That mainstream exposure has helped vault Polymarket to new heights of trading volume this fall, which last month eclipsed $1 billion in a single week.
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