Polymarket Eyes US Return via $112 Million Crypto Exchange Acquisition

Polymarket acquired the derivatives exchange QCX alongside efforts to return to the U.S., the crypto-powered prediction platform said in a press release on Monday.

Purchasing the little-known firm, which is regulated under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, should allow Polymarket to re-enter the U.S. as a fully regulated and compliant platform, founder and CEO Shayne Coplan said in a statement.

“We are laying the foundation to bring Polymarket home,” he said.

In the announcement, Polymarket noted that the acquisition took place for $112 million, and it includes the CFTC-regulated clearinghouse, QC Clearing.

The announcement comes a week after a source familiar with the cases confirmed to Decrypt that the U.S. Department of Justice and CFTC had ended investigations into Polymarket.

Authorities began scrutinizing Polymarket last year for allegedly allowing Americans to use its services. The company had agreed to block U.S. users in 2022 after reaching a settlement in 2022 with the CFTC for its alleged failure to register with the regulator.

A lack of access for U.S. customers didn’t prevent Polymarket from becoming a go-to source of information during the presidential election. With its odds highlighted by news publications like CNN and tech CEOs like Elon Musk, the platform broke into the mainstream.

Although the platform faced skepticism from some pollsters and academics, it correctly pointed to former President Joe Biden’s early withdrawal from the presidential race and accurately called U.S. President Donald Trump’s White House victory months later.

Representing its hottest month on record, Polymarket notched $2.6 billion in trading volume in November, according to a Dune dashboard. In June, it registered $1.1 billion in trading volume.

Despite its popularity, Polymarket continues to face occasional pushback over how its markets resolve, including a recent $237 million controversy over whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would wear a suit before July.

Polymarket’s acquisition of QCX could prove useful in delivering on previously announced plans, including a collaboration with Musk’s social media platform.

X tapped Polymarket as its official prediction platform in June, unveiling a tool that dissects market-making news in real time. Both companies said that additional “integrations and unique experiences” would be released as a result of the team-up.