Polymarket prepares U.S. relaunch after securing regulatory pathway

Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based prediction market platform, is preparing to reenter the U.S. market nearly four years after regulatory scrutiny forced it to halt domestic operations. The company has announced it will begin listing new contracts for U.S. users as early as October 2, 2025, following a series of regulatory approvals and a key acquisition.

The platform, which operates on the Polygon blockchain network, recently acquired QCX LLC for $112 million. That acquisition granted Polymarket access to a Designated Contract Market (DCM) license via the newly renamed Polymarket US. The license enables the company to self-certify event contracts in compliance with Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) rules.

Self-certification allows DCM holders to list contracts by filing a declaration that their products conform to existing regulations. The CFTC then has one business day to raise objections. If it doesn’t, the market can be listed right away. In this case, Polymarket US has stated that its markets will not go live before October 2.

Four market types have been self-certified for launch, and they are athletic event contracts, athletic spread contracts, total athletic score contracts, and election winner contracts.

Polymarket's return follows a no-action letter issued by the CFTC in early September, signaling that the agency would not pursue enforcement over alleged past violations related to swap data reporting and recordkeeping. The letter cleared the final hurdle for Polymarket’s return to U.S. operations, according to CEO Shayne Coplan.

Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan

“That was the company’s ‘green light to go live in the USA,’” Coplan said at the time.

Polymarket gained national attention during the 2024 U.S. presidential election, when traders on the platform accurately predicted the reelection of President Donald Trump. Since then, interest in prediction markets has grown significantly, with both Polymarket and its main U.S. rival Kalshi generating hundreds of millions of dollars in weekly trading volume.

Kalshi, which already holds a DCM license, has so far led the U.S. market in terms of user base and trading volume. Polymarket’s reentry aims to challenge that position by offering regulated, self-certified contracts targeting American users.

Speaking during a panel discussion in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the CFTC, Coplan discussed the implications of regulation on decentralized finance (DeFi).

“I think that it’s pretty clear with this administration that we want the regulators to cultivate DeFi,” Coplan said, referring to blockchain-based financial systems that operate without traditional intermediaries. He also suggested that innovators may be better positioned than regulators to design smart contracts that protect investors.

“I think that puts the onus on us and other players in the space to go and get inventive and come up with solutions that both embody the spirit of the rules that you see in traditional financial regulation with what’s capable of the technology,” he said.