Binance.US and Blockchain.com have each filed separately with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) seeking authorization to offer prediction markets to US customers, according to reporting from CoinGape. The filings place both firms inside a formal US regulatory review process at a time when the prediction markets segment is drawing increased attention from institutional-grade trading platforms.

Neither company has received regulatory clearance at this stage. The submissions represent applications for regulatory authorization, not confirmations that approval has been granted: approval status, expected review timelines, and product specifications all remain unconfirmed pending the CFTC's review.

What the Companies Filed

Both companies named in the filings are seeking CFTC approval rather than announcing a live product. A filing of this kind typically involves a designated contract market application or a related form of regulatory authorization, processes overseen through the CFTC's trading organization oversight framework. Designated contract market status is the exchange designation under which CFTC-supervised event trading operates in the US, and it carries continuing obligations covering market surveillance, rule enforcement, and customer protection for as long as the designation is held.

Binance.US operates as the American-facing entity of the broader Binance ecosystem. Blockchain.com functions as a cryptocurrency wallet, exchange, and infrastructure provider with a significant retail user base. Their near-simultaneous filings indicate that the two firms are pursuing the same regulatory gateway into the US prediction markets segment at roughly the same time.

The prediction markets vertical allows participants to take positions on the outcomes of real-world events, with contracts ranging from political elections to economic data releases. In CFTC terminology, these instruments are known as event contracts and sit under federal commodities jurisdiction. In the United States, offering such products to retail customers requires CFTC oversight, a requirement that distinguishes regulated domestic offerings from unregulated offshore equivalents.

Binance's regulatory posture in the United States has been closely scrutinized in recent years. Under the terms of prior agreements, the Department of Justice has monitored the firm's compliance with its 2023 settlement, a compliance backdrop that any newly authorized US product would operate within.

Why the Filing Stage Matters

A filing submitted to the CFTC initiates a formal review in which the regulator evaluates whether the proposed offering meets federal commodities law requirements. Until the CFTC grants the necessary designation or registration, neither Binance.US nor Blockchain.com can legally offer a prediction market product to customers in the United States.

The significance is structural. US prediction markets have operated in a constrained legal environment, with only a small number of platforms holding CFTC authorization. Event contract pricing depends on active two-sided participation, so venue scale and user reach shape how deep these markets can become — adding major exchange-backed operators to the authorized group would materially expand the liquidity access and contract variety available to US participants. That regulatory bottleneck is why the filing stage, rather than a product launch, is the relevant event to track.

Blockchain.com's involvement is notable given that the firm has historically positioned itself as an infrastructure layer rather than a derivatives venue. A successful CFTC approval would represent a meaningful expansion its regulated product surface in the US market and would make the company a federally designated trading venue in its own right.

Key Questions That Remain Unanswered

Based on available reporting, neither the timeline for the CFTC's review nor the specific contract types that either firm intends to offer has been disclosed. Designated contract market applications can take months to process and may require public comment periods, formal rule filings, and system safeguard certifications before any approval is issued.

It is also unconfirmed whether the two companies filed for the same category of authorization or whether their applications differ in scope. Prediction markets can cover a wide range of event types, and the contracts a platform proposes to list are subject to CFTC review on their individual merits.

Binance.US has separately been expanding its regulated footprint, including a partnership with Franklin Templeton on tokenized securities, a step that signaled a broader push into compliant product structures. Whether its CFTC prediction market filing follows a similar partnership-driven model or represents a standalone application is not yet clear from the available information.

What to Watch

Three developments to monitor going forward are the CFTC's formal response to each application, any public comment period openings on the CFTC docket, and whether either company discloses the specific event categories or contract structures it intends to list. Until those disclosures occur, the story remains at the application stage, with no confirmed path to a live US product from either firm.