Blockchain.com has applied for two US regulatory licenses to offer prediction markets and cryptocurrency derivatives to retail and institutional customers, according to a CNBC report Friday.
The digital asset platform is seeking designation as a designated contract market, or DCM, which would allow it to operate a futures exchange. It is also pursuing registration as a futures commission merchant, or FCM, the category covering brokers that handle derivatives trading.
The applications would expand Blockchain.com’s US offerings to include event contracts, which let traders take positions on the outcomes of real world events, alongside crypto derivatives.
CEO and cofounder Peter Smith told CNBC the company wants users to manage digital assets, trade derivatives and participate in prediction markets without switching between apps. He said the applications seek to bring those services to US customers through the appropriate regulatory frameworks.
The move follows Blockchain.com’s introduction of prediction markets through a Polymarket partnership earlier this year. It also launched perpetual futures powered by Hyperliquid for some customers outside the US.
Those partnerships established international offerings. The new applications seek regulatory permission to expand into the US market, where crypto platforms and prediction market operators increasingly compete across similar products.
Crypto.com and Gemini operate event contract marketplaces, while Coinbase offers prediction markets primarily through Kalshi, according to CNBC. Kalshi and Polymarket have also expanded into perpetual futures for US and international customers, respectively.
Blockchain.com joins 11 other companies that have filed for DCM licenses this year, CNBC reported. The CFTC has approved six new DCMs in 2026.
The expansion comes as Blockchain.com prepares for a potential public listing. The company announced on May 21 that it had confidentially submitted a draft registration statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
It said the offering’s size and price range had not been determined and that a listing remained subject to market conditions and regulatory review.
Bloomberg reported in September that Blockchain.com was targeting an IPO this year at a valuation between $4 billion and $6 billion, CNBC noted. The CFTC applications remain requests for approval rather than authorization to launch the proposed US services.
