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Definitive agreement moves beyond letter of intent
Prospect Markets said its indirect wholly owned subsidiary, Prospect Brokerage USA, executed the agreement with OG Prediction Markets and Crypto.com's derivatives North America division on Sep. 1. The deal moves the partnership beyond a previously announced nonbinding letter of intent and gives the Canadian-listed company its first route into the U.S. prediction market business.
Through the agreement, Prospect Brokerage will operate as a CFTC-registered introducing broker and connect customers with event contracts listed by Crypto.com's derivatives exchange. The structure gives Prospect access to existing federally regulated trading and clearing infrastructure instead of requiring the company to build its own exchange and clearing operation.
Prospect said the agreement clears the way for the company to onboard customers and begin generating revenue from the product, with further details on branding, marketing and the exact launch date expected before the platform goes live.
Sports contracts have driven prediction market growth
Prospect is entering the sector after sports trading helped push prediction market volumes to record levels during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Combined monthly trading volume across major prediction platforms increased from less than $5 billion in September 2025 to approximately $25.7 billion in May 2026.
Monthly notional volume surpassed $50 billion in June as the World Cup and NBA Finals drove activity. Sports represented roughly 85% of trading volume on the sector's largest platform during June. Prediction markets captured an estimated 27% of legal U.S. sports-betting volume during the World Cup, compared with around 9% at the beginning of 2026.
World Cup prediction markets pushed sector-wide activity to roughly $45 billion in June, while individual platforms handled close to $5 billion in tournament-related trading. Chainalysis estimated that the World Cup generated $20 billion in blockchain prediction-market volume from the beginning of the year through the end of the tournament, with more than 400,000 wallets participating.
Bernstein projects $1 trillion by 2030
Prospect cited Bernstein estimates that prediction market trading could reach approximately $240 billion in 2026, up 370% from 2025, before climbing to around $1 trillion annually by 2030. The research firm expects distribution partnerships, institutional participation and clearer federal rules to contribute to that expansion.
Bernstein has made similar projections while examining individual platforms. In June, the firm estimated that one major exchange could generate $586 million from prediction markets in 2026, compared with $150 million in 2025, after World Cup activity pushed daily market volumes as high as $4.8 billion.
The Prospect agreement adds another distribution channel for Crypto.com as the company pushes its regulated prediction products beyond its own platforms. In May, Crypto.com and OG entered a multiyear partnership with the U.S. SailGP Team. Distribution agreements have become a common route for financial platforms seeking prediction-market exposure without operating their own designated contract markets.
Regulatory scrutiny continues
Prospect's planned launch comes while federal and state authorities remain divided over the regulatory treatment of sports event contracts. CFTC-regulated exchanges have maintained that event contracts offered through designated contract markets fall under federal derivatives law. Several state gaming regulators and industry groups have argued that sports event contracts constitute illegal gambling under state law.
Prospect Markets founder and CEO Johnny Chen called the definitive agreement a company-defining milestone and said the company intends to be live for sports fans ahead of the upcoming NFL and NBA seasons. Crypto.com Chief Legal Officer Steve Humenik said the partnership would use the company's CFTC-registered clearing and exchange infrastructure to provide regulated event contracts to U.S. customers.
