Binance US plans CFTC market license application next month, report says

Binance US plans to apply next month for a CFTC Designated Contract Market license, Chief Executive Officer Stephen Gregory said at the Rare Evo conference in Las Vegas, as the exchange moves toward launching a federally regulated U.S. prediction market alongside a broader expansion beyond spot crypto trading. If approved, the license would allow Binance US to list futures, options and event-based contracts under CFTC oversight. The application is part of what Eleanor Terrett described onstage as a comeback strategy centered on lower trading fees and diversification into products including perpetuals and prediction markets. Binance US has introduced near-zero trading fees, outlined plans to expand into derivatives and is trying to win back users and trading volumes after regulatory setbacks sharply reduced its U.S. market presence. Binance US would be entering a market that is attracting both crypto and traditional trading platforms. Kalshi and Polymarket are established players in event contracts, Gemini recently obtained its own license, and Coinbase has partnered with Kalshi to offer event contracts in the U.S. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Robinhood is exploring a deal with Crypto.com to list prediction market contracts on its app as competition intensifies. The push comes after Binance Holdings' legal settlement with U.S. authorities, which included about $4.3 billion in penalties. Former chief Changpeng Zhao spent four months in prison and still holds a majority stake in Binance US, while saying his role in the company is solely technical. He has also said Binance wants to do much more business in the U.S. and make a superior product offering more accessible to U.S. consumers. Prediction markets have become one of the fastest-growing segments in financial technology, drawing interest from both retail and institutional traders as legal developments broaden access to event contracts in the U.S. Even with that growth, operators still face a fragmented legal and regulatory environment across states and at the federal level.