Polymarket Seeks CFTC OK to Restore Main Exchange in U.S.

Polymarket is in talks with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to migrate or consolidate its offshore prediction-market platform onto a CFTC-registered U.S. exchange. The company aims to make its main trading venue available to U.S. users again.

Discussions include options to merge the offshore blockchain technology with the U.S. exchange or to move activity entirely onto the CFTC-licensed platform. Any change would require a formal commission vote. With four of five commissioner seats vacant, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig is the primary decision-maker. Selig told the House Agriculture Committee on April 16: “To the extent that there are products available that are taking liquidity out of the United States, we’re going to make sure that we bring that back here into the United States under comprehensive regulation.”

Polymarket bought QCEX, a CFTC-registered derivatives exchange and clearinghouse, for $112 million in July 2025 and received a CFTC no-action letter before launching a U.S. beta at the end of 2025. The domestic product is limited to sports markets, operates behind a waitlist, and currently excludes political and macro event contracts. The company has said it plans to add markets for climate, crypto and elections but has not provided a timetable.

The platform was barred from serving U.S. customers after a 2022 CFTC enforcement action that found Polymarket operated an unregistered facility for event-based contracts. Regulators imposed a $1.4 million civil penalty and banned the company from accepting U.S. users at that time. Operating offshore has allowed Polymarket to offer contracts that U.S.-registered exchanges must restrict under CFTC Regulation 40.1, including contracts tied to war, terrorism and assassination.

By October 2025 the offshore exchange processed more than $3 billion in monthly trades and handled hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts related to conflicts in Ukraine, Israel and Iran. Polymarket uses blockchain infrastructure, which U.S. regulators say complicates standard anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer controls.

Federal prosecutors in a recent case charged a U.S. Army soldier with using classified information and a virtual private network to place bets on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, allegedly earning more than $400,000. The indictment describes how a VPN and other tools can let U.S. users access offshore platforms despite the ban.

Polymarket is seeking a valuation reported at about $15 billion. Earlier figures valued the company at $8 billion tied to an Intercontinental Exchange commitment of up to $2 billion. Domestic rival Kalshi, which has operated under U.S. regulation from launch, has partnerships with Robinhood and Coinbase and was valued at roughly $22 billion in March.

A group of House Democrats has urged the CFTC to increase enforcement against offshore prediction markets, citing concerns about insider trading and national security. The CFTC is pursuing legal authority over prediction markets in court while several states advance their own regulatory approaches.

Any CFTC approval to migrate the main exchange back to the U.S. would require changes to Polymarket’s technology, compliance systems and product list to meet U.S. regulatory standards. A formal vote or further guidance from the CFTC is expected to determine whether the company can reopen its primary platform to American users.