Binance.US plans to apply for a Commodity Futures Trading Commission license in August that would allow the company to operate a federally regulated market for futures, options and event-based contracts, including prediction-market products for retail customers.
Chief Executive Officer Stephen Gregory disclosed the expected timing during the Rare Evo conference in Las Vegas, and a Binance.US spokesperson later confirmed that the company intends to seek designation as a contract market. Approval is not assured, but a successful application would give Binance.US a route into one of the fastest-growing and most contested areas of U.S. retail trading.
The planned application places Binance.US alongside firms seeking to offer contracts tied to real-world outcomes under CFTC supervision. Prediction markets let users buy and sell contracts based on whether specified events occur, from election results and economic releases to sporting outcomes. Contract prices generally reflect the market’s implied probability of an outcome.
A designated contract market, or DCM, is a CFTC-regulated venue authorized to list derivatives for U.S. participants. The designation would permit Binance.US to offer event contracts within the federal commodities framework rather than treating them as an unregulated betting product. It would also subject the platform to CFTC standards covering market surveillance, reporting, compliance systems and customer protections.
Binance.US targets a regulated route into event contracts
Binance.US has historically focused on cryptocurrency trading, and its move toward a DCM license would expand its proposed business beyond spot digital-asset transactions. The company would enter a market where the appeal is increasingly tied to contracts that respond to news, policy decisions and cultural events rather than token-price movements alone.
Gregory’s comments came as established financial and crypto companies position themselves around event-linked trading. Kalshi already operates a CFTC-regulated prediction market, while Polymarket has moved to establish Polymarket US after its U.S. regulatory arrangements. Their models have shown that event contracts can attract interest from users who want to trade views on public events in a standardized format.
Gemini also obtained CFTC approval earlier this year, according to the company’s announcement, adding another crypto-native brand with derivatives-market ambitions. Coinbase, meanwhile, partnered with Kalshi to make event contracts available through its U.S. platform. Those developments have made CFTC registration a more prominent strategic option for firms that want to provide retail access without relying on state-by-state gambling licenses.
The competition is not limited to crypto platforms. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Robinhood has held discussions with Crypto.com about potentially adding prediction-market contracts to its brokerage application. The report said the conversations formed part of Robinhood’s effort to broaden its event-based product offering.
A Binance.US DCM application would therefore test whether the company can convert its existing brand recognition in digital assets into a position in regulated event derivatives. The platform would need to demonstrate that it can meet the operational, compliance and surveillance obligations associated with running a federally supervised market.
Sports contracts remain the central legal test
The expansion of prediction markets has also produced a sharp conflict between federal derivatives regulation and state gambling authorities, particularly over contracts based on sports outcomes.
More than a dozen state regulators have challenged offerings of sports-related event contracts, arguing that they fall within state gambling rules. Operators and the CFTC have taken the opposing view that federally regulated event contracts are commodities-market products subject to the agency’s exclusive jurisdiction.
That dispute carries practical consequences for platforms such as Binance.US. A DCM designation could provide the company with a federal regulatory framework for listing contracts, but it would not automatically end litigation or state-level political resistance. Sports products are especially sensitive because they closely resemble wagers available through licensed sportsbooks, while being structured as tradable contracts on a regulated exchange.
The CFTC has said it holds exclusive federal jurisdiction over event contracts listed on designated contract markets. States have challenged that position in court, creating a legal backdrop that remains unsettled even as more platforms pursue federal approval.
For Binance.US, the timing of the application suggests that it sees federal supervision as the most viable path for entering the category. A DCM license would give the company an established regulatory channel rather than requiring it to build an event-trading business around a patchwork of state permissions.
Approval would bring obligations as well as new products
The CFTC’s review will focus on more than the types of contracts Binance.US wants to offer. Designated contract markets are expected to maintain systems for monitoring trading, detecting abusive conduct, managing operational risks and reporting relevant information to regulators.
Those requirements could shape the company’s product design. Event contracts are usually offered with clear settlement terms, published rules and an identified source for determining the final outcome. Questions around market integrity become particularly important for contracts tied to fast-moving news, elections or sports, where unclear terms or delayed resolution can undermine confidence in pricing.
Binance.US has not publicly detailed which prediction contracts it would seek to list first, whether it would prioritize political and economic markets, or whether it would pursue sports-related contracts. Those decisions may depend partly on the outcome of the ongoing state disputes and on the CFTC’s own approach to reviewing proposed listings.
The company’s August application would mark an early procedural step rather than the launch of a prediction-market service. Yet it places Binance.US directly in a race already involving regulated exchanges, crypto firms and major retail trading apps, all pursuing a category where federal authorization is becoming a central competitive asset.
Interested in regulated event contracts? Learn how Toobit’s prediction markets future could impact your trading strategy.
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