Polymarket Secures CFTC Approval for Full Regulated Return to US Markets

Polymarket, one of the top cryptocurrency powered prediction market platforms, announced on November 25 that it has received formal approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to operate as a fully regulated exchange in the United States. The CFTC issued an Amended Order of Designation that officially recognizes Polymarket as an intermediated trading platform compliant with the rules applied to federally regulated Designated Contract Markets. This milestone clears the path for the company to serve American users directly through licensed brokerages and Futures Commission Merchants for the first time since its 2022 enforcement action.

The decision represents a significant shift in Polymarket’s relationship with U.S. regulators and ends a multi-year period during which the platform was restricted from accepting domestic customers. Under the new framework, Polymarket will adhere to the full scope of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC oversight applicable to traditional exchanges. Traders will gain access to the platform’s event contract markets through established financial intermediaries, bringing the decentralized prediction market model into the mainstream regulated environment.

Strategic Partnerships and Growing Institutional Interest

The regulatory breakthrough follows a series of high-profile developments that have transformed Polymarket’s trajectory this year. In September, the CFTC issued a no-action letter that relieved certain event contracts from standard swap reporting and recordkeeping requirements, effectively providing the regulatory clarity Polymarket needed to pursue its current designation. That relief, combined with the amended order, creates a workable compliance structure for information markets that had previously operated in a legal gray area.

Institutional backing has arrived in parallel with the regulatory progress. Last month, Intercontinental Exchange, parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, revealed a strategic $2 billion investment that values Polymarket at approximately $8 billion on a pre-money basis. The partnership positions ICE as the primary global distributor of Polymarket’s real-time event data, giving traditional financial institutions seamless access to probability-based market intelligence that proved remarkably accurate during the 2024 election cycle.

Polymarket founder and CEO Shayne Coplan described the CFTC approval as validation of the platform’s commitment to transparency and regulatory maturity. He emphasized that operating within the U.S. framework allows the company to set a new standard for how blockchain-based markets can coexist with established oversight. The approval also enables Polymarket to onboard licensed broker-dealers and expand its product offerings to American participants without the geographic restrictions that have been in place since the 2022 settlement.

The return to the U.S. market comes three years after Polymarket agreed to pay a $1.4 million civil penalty and cease serving domestic customers as part of a CFTC enforcement action over unregistered derivatives activity. Since then, the platform has grown into the dominant player in decentralized prediction markets, processing billions of dollars in trading volume on questions ranging from political outcomes to economic indicators and cultural events.