Polymarket is seeking approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to bring its primary prediction market back to U.S. users.
The company has discussed lifting its ban on U.S.-based traders with CFTC officials in recent weeks, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the negotiations. The ban has been in effect since Polymarket struck a deal with the agency in 2022 and moved its main exchange overseas.
The CFTC authorized a separate U.S.-only Polymarket platform last November after the company acquired a registered exchange. This site is not yet fully launched.
Prediction markets allow users to trade contracts related to future events, such as elections, sports matches, or economic data. These markets have come under increasing scrutiny from various states, which say they operate as unlicensed gaming operations.
The CFTC is expected to vote before it can remove the US block from Polymarkt. That process may be simpler now because four commission seats are vacant, leaving Chairman Michael Selig as the only sitting commissioner.
Selig has argued in the past that states lack the ability to control prediction markets, whose authority falls under the CFTC’s jurisdiction.
The talks also come after authorities accused a soldier of using a virtual private network (VPN) to access the Polymarket international exchange and make more than $400,000 through trades based on classified information.
Polymarket declined to comment.
