Blockchain.com, the crypto wallet and trading platform, has applied for a pair of US licenses that would let it offer prediction markets and crypto derivatives to American customers, CNBC reported on Friday, October 9. Approval of the two applications, for a designated contract market (DCM) license and registration as a futures commission merchant (FCM), sits with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, according to The Block.
"Users should be able to manage their digital assets, trade derivatives and take positions on real-world events easily, without jumping between different apps," CEO and co-founder Peter Smith said in a statement cited by CNBC, according to The Block.
The company already offers prediction markets through a Polymarket integration and perpetual futures via Hyperliquid, but only to customers outside the United States, per The Block. If the CFTC grants the licenses, Blockchain.com could open both products to US customers, turning its app into a single venue for event contracts and crypto derivatives.
The filing follows a September agreement with the New York Stock Exchange to give Blockchain.com users access to tokenized US stocks and ETFs through the exchange's planned digital trading platform, per The Block.
It also lands as the company prepares a public listing. Blockchain.com filed confidentially for a US IPO in May, and Bloomberg reported last week that it is seeking to raise roughly $500 million at a valuation of $4 billion to $6 billion, targeting a listing before the end of 2026, according to The Block. Back in April 2022, the company was reported to be speaking with banks about a listing shortly after raising funding at a $14 billion valuation.
What to watch is whether the CFTC moves quickly on the applications, and whether Blockchain.com builds its own markets under a new exchange license or leans on its existing Polymarket integration once it clears the regulatory door. A crypto-native wallet with a national brand going through the DCM process would add another challenger to a field already fighting over the legal shape of event contracts, and a well-timed listing could bring retail prediction-market exposure to the public markets for the first time.