CFTC Nod Brings Polymarket Back to American Traders

What to know:

• The CFTC just gave Polymarket the go-ahead to work in the US again. This is a popular site for betting on events.
• This means that real brokers and financial groups can help Americans trade on Polymarket.
• Earlier this year, the company bought QCX LLC, a licensed exchange, to make this happen.
• It’s a step toward making prediction markets more common and safe.

Polymarket has made a big move to get back into the US market. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) gave the green light to a new order that lets the platform run here under strict rules. This ends years of restrictions for US users, who couldn’t get to it directly before.

The approval is mostly about “intermediation.” That means Polymarket won’t talk to customers one-on-one. People will instead trade through registered brokers or futures commission merchants (FCMs). It’s like betting on things like sports or elections through a trusted third party.

Polymarket began as a prediction market based on cryptocurrency in 2020. It lets people use digital money to bet on things that happen in real life. But in 2022, the CFTC fined them $1.4 million for breaking the rules, which made them leave the US. Since then, they’ve been working hard to get back in legally.
They paid a lot of money to buy QCX LLC, a CFTC-licensed exchange, earlier this year. This helped them meet their goals. Now that the order has been changed, they are ready to work with traditional finance systems.

Shayne Coplan, the CEO of Polymarket, has said in the past that he is excited. He wrote on X in September that he had gotten the first green lights from the CFTC. The company’s official account said today,”We’re thrilled to share that we’ve received CFTC approval for intermediation, paving the way for seamless access to polymarkets through registered brokers & financial institutions. Coming soon to a trading platform near you.”