Prospect Markets, Crypto.com seal deal for U.S. prediction markets platform

Prospect Markets has signed a definitive agreement with Crypto.com’s U.S. derivatives business and OG Prediction Markets to launch a regulated sports-focused prediction market platform in the United States, with the company targeting a third-quarter rollout ahead of the NFL and NBA seasons.

Prospect Markets said on Sept. 1 that its indirect wholly owned subsidiary, Prospect Brokerage USA LLC, executed the agreement with OG Prediction Markets and Crypto.com | Derivatives North America, or CDNA, moving the partnership beyond a previously announced nonbinding letter of intent.

The arrangement will allow Prospect Brokerage to distribute event contracts offered by OG.com and CDNA to U.S. customers, giving the Canadian-listed company its first route into the fast-growing U.S. prediction market business.

Prospect said the agreement clears the way for the company to onboard customers and begin generating revenue from the product, with further details on branding, marketing and the exact launch date expected before the platform goes live.

Prospect Markets secures regulated U.S. prediction market access

Through the agreement, Prospect Brokerage will operate as a Commodity Futures Trading Commission-registered introducing broker and connect customers with event contracts listed by CDNA.

CDNA operates as a CFTC-registered designated contract market and derivatives clearing organization. Prospect customers will be introduced to the contracts through Crypto.com affiliate Foris DAX FCM LLC, which operates as OG Broker and is registered as a futures commission merchant.

The structure gives Prospect access to existing federally regulated trading and clearing infrastructure instead of requiring the company to build its own exchange and clearing operation.

Crypto.com launched the OG platform in February, offering CFTC-regulated contracts tied to sports, financial markets and other real-world events. The product combines prediction trading with social features and leaderboards, while contracts are provided through Crypto.com’s U.S. derivatives infrastructure.

Prospect plans to build its offering around sports, where event contracts have generated a large share of prediction market activity.

“We intend to be live for sports fans ahead of the upcoming NFL and NBA seasons,” Prospect Markets founder and CEO Johnny Chen said.

Chen called the definitive agreement a “company-defining milestone” and said the companies had worked toward completing the deal during the year.

Crypto.com Chief Legal Officer Steve Humenik said the partnership would use the company’s CFTC-registered clearing and exchange infrastructure to provide regulated event contracts to U.S. customers.

“Formalizing this definitive agreement with Prospect is a major step in expanding access to fully regulated, event-based prediction markets across the U.S.,” Humenik said.

Sports contracts have driven prediction market volumes

Prospect is entering the sector after sports trading helped push prediction market volumes to record levels during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Combined monthly trading volume across major prediction platforms increased from less than $5 billion in September 2025 to approximately $25.7 billion in May 2026, according to figures cited by Prospect. The company said monthly notional volume surpassed $50 billion in June as the World Cup and NBA Finals drove activity.

Sports represented roughly 85% of trading volume on the sector’s largest platform during June, Prospect said. Prediction markets captured an estimated 27% of legal U.S. sports-betting volume during the World Cup, compared with around 9% at the beginning of 2026.

Crypto.news previously reported that World Cup prediction markets pushed sector-wide activity to roughly $45 billion in June, while Polymarket alone handled close to $5 billion in tournament-related trading.

Chainalysis later estimated that the World Cup generated $20 billion in blockchain prediction-market volume from the beginning of the year through the end of the tournament. More than 400,000 wallets participated, with $5.7 billion traded during the competition’s five-week run.

Prospect cited Bernstein estimates that prediction market trading could reach approximately $240 billion in 2026, up 370% from 2025, before climbing to around $1 trillion annually by 2030. The research firm expects distribution partnerships, institutional participation and clearer federal rules to contribute to that expansion.

Bernstein has made similar projections while examining individual platforms. In June, the firm estimated that Robinhood could generate $586 million from prediction markets in 2026, compared with $150 million in 2025, after World Cup activity pushed daily market volumes as high as $4.8 billion.

Crypto.com expands distribution for its event contracts

The Prospect agreement adds another distribution channel for Crypto.com as the company pushes its regulated prediction products beyond its own platforms.

In May, Crypto.com and OG entered a multiyear partnership with the U.S. SailGP Team that made them its official crypto exchange and prediction market partners. The deal allowed fans to access CFTC-regulated SailGP contracts through OG.

Robinhood was separately reported in July to be discussing a deal that could bring Crypto.com event contracts to its prediction markets hub. No final agreement had been announced at the time.

Distribution agreements have become a common route for financial platforms seeking prediction-market exposure without operating their own designated contract markets. Gemini Space Station and Apex Fintech Solutions signed a letter of intent in August under which Gemini Titan would provide regulated crypto prediction contracts to brokerages using Apex’s infrastructure.

The Prospect arrangement follows a similar model, with CDNA providing the exchange and clearing infrastructure while Prospect controls the customer-facing distribution channel.

U.S. sports event contracts remain under regulatory scrutiny

Prospect’s planned launch comes while federal and state authorities remain divided over the regulatory treatment of sports event contracts.

CFTC-regulated exchanges have maintained that event contracts offered through designated contract markets fall under federal derivatives law. Several state gaming regulators and industry groups have challenged that position, arguing that sports contracts function as wagering products and should comply with state gambling laws.

The U.S. gaming industry urged Congress in June to restrict sports prediction markets from operating under federal derivatives rules, arguing that the products allow platforms to bypass state and tribal gaming requirements.

Legal disputes have since continued in several states. A federal judge in Wisconsin rejected a CFTC request in July to stop the state from applying its gambling laws to federally regulated prediction market operators, including Crypto.com, Kalshi, Polymarket, Robinhood and Coinbase.

Prospect said its planned product will use CDNA’s CFTC-registered exchange and clearing infrastructure, with OG Broker handling the futures commission merchant relationship and Prospect Brokerage operating as the registered introducing broker.

The company is targeting a launch during the third quarter and said it will release further information on the platform’s product, branding, launch timing and marketing plans.