Polymarket Files to Offer Regulated Margin Trading in U.S.

Polymarket is a prediction-market platform where participants trade contracts tied to the outcomes of political, economic and other events. The proposed product uses a parlay structure combining multiple outcomes. The regulatory positions of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will influence whether prediction markets can enter the mainstream financial-products ecosystem.

Polymarket has submitted a self-certification filing for “combinatorial outcome contracts” to the CFTC, with a launch expected as early as May 21. The filing did not disclose any trading amount. Meanwhile, SEC Chair Paul Atkins announced a public request for input on new fund products, including event-contract ETFs, signaling that the regulatory debate has expanded beyond individual prediction contracts to fund structures available to retail investors.

Polymarket offers blockchain-based binary event contracts. The CFTC found that it had operated an unregistered derivatives market and, on January 3, 2022, imposed a $1.4 million penalty and ordered it to wind down noncompliant markets. Its main international platform has blocked US users since then. Lifting the ban would allow Polymarket to challenge regulated rival Kalshi in the United States with its full product offering.

Bloomberg reported on April 28 that Polymarket was negotiating with CFTC Chairman Michael Selig to amend the 2022 settlement terms and allow US traders back onto its international platform. The company has spent $112 million to acquire licensed exchange QCEX and launched the regulated Polymarket US in late 2025. It also filed a self-certification with the CFTC for sports parlay contracts on May 20, but reopening the main platform to US users still requires regulatory approval.