Sporttrade’s vision of becoming a nationwide prediction market platform is closer to becoming a reality.
Key Takeaways
- Sporttrade’s proposals are currently listed on the CFTC’s website.
- The online sports betting company has been state-licensed since 2022.
- CEO Alex Kane asked to be regulated by the CFTC in April 2025.
The state-regulated sports betting and technology company announced Wednesday that it has officially submitted applications to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for Designated Contract Market and Derivatives Clearing Organization status.
Those pending proposals are now listed on the CFTC’s website, dated Jan. 27, and the company awaits a ruling from the federal regulators to launch a product that already reaches a national audience.
After federally regulated prediction platforms began offering sports contracts last year, Sporttrade wrote a letter to the CFTC in April 2025 requesting approval to launch its technology in all 50 states. Without receiving a response from the regulatory agency, Sporttrade put together and filed official applications for consideration.
Enjoying Covers content? Add us as a preferred source on your Google account“Today marks the opening of an incredibly exciting chapter of the Sporttrade journey.” Alex Kane, Sporttrade’s founder and CEO, said in a statement. “The CFTC’s market-based regulatory framework enables Sporttrade to provide market participants an elevated level of efficiency, transparency, and consumer protection relative to what we’ve been able to offer to date.”
Early to the game
Before Kalshi and Crypto.com entered the sports event contract space prior to last year’s Super Bowl, Sporttrade had plans to bring those kind of markets into the sports wagering industry. Sporttrade became a prediction-style online sports betting operator in 2022, and its product is licensed in New Jersey, Colorado, Iowa, Arizona, and Virginia.
The operator offers marketplace technology specifically built to trade sports.
"We had originally constructed our venue under the assumption that the sports trading vertical would follow the trajectory of most other electronic markets, one towards efficiency and transparency powered by broker intermediation and institutional participation," Kane said. "Federal registration will thus allow us to finally unlock the full potential of our natively-built exchange, clearing, and broker technology in our pursuit to always put the customer first."
Crowded space
The prediction market industry has grown rapidly over the last year, while Sporttrade continues to await federal approval. Not only have Kalshi’s contracts evolved to offer Super Bowl props and markets on numerous sports, but FanDuel and DraftKings, the two biggest state-regulated sports betting brands in the U.S., launched prediction products in late 2025.
Fanatics, another sports betting operator, has also moved into the prediction game. Daily fantasy sports companies Underdog and PrizePicks have teamed with trading exchanges to offer sports event contracts on their products.
While the debate over Kalshi and others offering sports event contracts in legal sports betting states is being decided in federal courts, Kane is adamant those prediction markets are forms of wagering.
“You’re not going to hear me say this isn’t sports betting,” Kane said last year. “That’s a ridiculous comment.”
