Polymarket Is Back: Crypto Prediction Giant Relaunches in U.S. With CFTC Green Light

Polymarket is preparing to relaunch in the United States after receiving regulatory clearance from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

This marks the platform’s official return to the American market after nearly three years of regulatory exclusion.

On Wednesday, the CFTC confirmed it had issued a no-action letter covering QCX LLC, a designated contract market, and QC Clearing LLC, a derivatives clearing organization.

Both entities were acquired by Polymarket earlier this year as part of its plan to re-enter the U.S. legally.

The agency’s Division of Market Oversight and Division of Clearing and Risk issued a no-action letter granting temporary relief from certain swap data reporting and recordkeeping requirements tied to event contracts, including binary options and variable payout transactions.

With CFTC Nod and QCX Deal, Polymarket Prepares U.S. Relaunch

Under the terms of the letter, the CFTC said it would not recommend enforcement action against the two entities or their participants for failing to comply with specific swap-related reporting obligations, so long as the activity falls within narrow conditions outlined in the approval.

Additionally, the relief does not exempt the companies from broader regulatory compliance but removes a key barrier to launching compliant prediction markets in the U.S.

Polymarket founder and CEO Shayne Coplan confirmed the development in a post on X, stating that the platform had received “the green light to go live in the USA.”

He credited the CFTC and its staff for completing the process in what he described as record time, adding that the company would share further updates soon.

The clearance caps a long regulatory journey for Polymarket. In 2022, the CFTC fined the platform $1.4 million for operating an unregistered derivatives exchange and ordered it to block U.S. users.

While Polymarket officially exited the U.S. market, regulators later investigated whether Americans continued accessing the site through VPNs.

That probe escalated in November 2024, when the FBI raided Coplan’s Manhattan residence and seized electronic devices.

In July, both the Department of Justice and the CFTC closed their investigations into Polymarket without pursuing further enforcement action.

The conclusion of those probes removed the final legal overhang blocking Polymarket’s U.S. return.

Days after the investigations ended, Polymarket acquired Florida-based derivatives exchange QCX and its clearing arm QC Clearing for $112 million.

The acquisition gave Polymarket a licensed designated contract market and a regulated clearinghouse, allowing it to operate within the same framework as federally supervised U.S. trading venues.

Despite the U.S. ban, Polymarket expanded rapidly overseas. In the first half of 2025 alone, users placed roughly $6 billion in wagers on outcomes.

Polymarket Quietly Begins U.S. Trading After Receiving CFTC Designation

The platform gained global attention during the 2024 U.S. election cycle after its markets closely tracked Donald Trump’s winning odds.

In November, Polymarket disclosed that it had received an amended designation order from the CFTC, formally allowing it to operate as a regulated U.S. exchange.

The approval allows intermediated trading through futures commission merchants and allows brokerages to onboard customers directly, placing Polymarket within the same regulatory framework as other federally supervised trading venues.

The company also said it has implemented upgraded market surveillance, clearing procedures, and regulatory reporting systems ahead of a full public relaunch.

The platform has also continued to attract institutional and political attention. In August, Donald Trump Jr. joined Polymarket’s advisory board after his venture firm, 1789 Capital, invested tens of millions of dollars into the company.

Polymarket has also entered a partnership with Elon Musk’s X platform to integrate prediction markets with xAI’s Grok chatbot.

By November, Coplan confirmed that Polymarket had begun live testing of its U.S. exchange in a limited beta, quietly onboarding selected users and matching real trades as it completed final regulatory steps.

More recently, the platform introduced a 4% annualized yield on certain long-term political and geopolitical contracts, including markets tied to the 2028 U.S. presidential election.