Blockchain.com has filed for licenses with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to offer crypto derivatives and prediction markets in the United States, according to a TradingView report on the company's applications.

The filings mark a structural shift for the London-based crypto financial services firm. Blockchain.com built its business on spot trading, custody and retail brokerage, and a CFTC-regulated derivatives operation would place it in direct competition with U.S.-licensed venues such as Coinbase Derivatives and Crypto.com's regulated arm.

What would the licenses allow?

A CFTC registration as a designated contract market or swap execution facility would let Blockchain.com offer regulated futures and options on crypto assets to U.S. customers. The parallel application covering prediction markets points to event contracts, a product category the CFTC has policed aggressively over the past two years as platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket expanded political and sports betting markets.

The move follows the firm's broader push into institutional services. Blockchain.com raised funding at a multi-billion dollar valuation in earlier rounds and has scaled its institutional lending and custody desks, but derivatives revenue has remained concentrated among competitors holding U.S. regulatory permissions.

Why derivatives matter to the business

Derivatives volume historically exceeds spot volume across crypto markets by a wide margin, and exchanges earn higher fee capture on leveraged products. For Blockchain.com, adding CFTC-regulated futures and prediction markets would diversify revenue beyond spot brokerage, where fee compression has squeezed margins across the industry.

The application also carries operational weight. A CFTC license requires segregation of customer funds, registered compliance staff, market surveillance capabilities and regular reporting to the regulator — a compliance build-out that typically takes months and significant capital expenditure before approval.

What happens next

The CFTC now reviews the applications through its standard registration process, which includes an assessment of the firm's financial resources, risk controls and market-integrity safeguards. Approval timelines vary, but comparable registrations for crypto venues have historically taken six months to more than a year.

If the regulator grants the licenses, Blockchain.com would join a small group of firms authorized to offer both crypto derivatives and event contracts to U.S. customers, ahead of any further market-structure legislation that could redraw the boundary between CFTC and SEC jurisdiction.