Blockchain.com disclosed on 9th October 2026 that it has applied for two Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) licenses. The filings would let it offer event contracts and crypto derivatives to U.S. retail and institutional customers.
The Big News
- Blockchain.com asked the CFTC for a designated contract market (DCM) license, which would make it a regulated U.S. futures exchange.
- The company also applied to register as a futures commission merchant (FCM), the category of broker that handles derivatives contracts.
- Blockchain.com joins 11 other companies that filed for DCM licenses this year, while the CFTC has approved six new DCMs in 2026.
- Blockchain.com confidentially filed for an IPO with the SEC in May, so the licensing bid overlaps with its listing plans.
Both applications go to the CFTC, the federal regulator for futures and derivatives, and each one covers a different layer of the business. The DCM license would designate Blockchain.com as an exchange. FCM status would make it the broker between customers and the contracts they trade. Holding both puts the venue and the customer relationship under one roof.
CEO and co-founder Peter Smith tied the filings to a single-app pitch. Customers should be able to hold assets, trade derivatives and “take positions on real-world events easily, without jumping between different apps,” he said.
https://t.co/zdWlOWrYX3 wants its own U.S. futures exchange. It filed with the CFTC for DCM and FCM licenses to offer event contracts and crypto derivatives in the U.S. 11 other firms applied for DCM licenses this year, and the CFTC has approved six. https://t.co/MdeyfgS1az
— CoinLaw (@coinlaw_io) October 9, 2026
Blockchain.com already sells these products abroad
Earlier this year, the company began offering prediction markets through a partnership with Polymarket to some of its international customers. It also rolled out perpetual futures powered by Hyperliquid’s derivatives exchange for that group. The U.S. applications point to a different model, one where Blockchain.com runs those categories on a licensed venue of its own.
Crypto exchanges and prediction markets keep converging
Crypto.com and Gemini Space Station already run their own event contract marketplaces, and Coinbase offers them mainly through a partnership with Kalshi. The traffic runs the other direction too. Kalshi has launched perpetual futures for U.S. customers, and Polymarket introduced its own perps for international users.
That crossover is visible in the CFTC’s queue, where this year’s DCM applications have piled up faster than the regulator’s approvals.
The bid also arrives in the middle of Blockchain.com’s move toward public markets. As first reported by Bloomberg last month, the company plans to go public this year at a valuation between $4 billion and $6 billion. Two CFTC decisions now sit on the same calendar as an IPO the company has yet to price.
