Polymarket was just cleared for a major regulatory challenge on Tuesday, November 25, 2025, and has now successfully secured the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission approval to resume its operations in the United States after a three-year ban.
While polymarket secured an approval, its rival in the prediction market, Kalshi, was defeated in its legal battle as the federal judge reinstated state oversight of its event contracts.
The decision is a testament to the divided regulatory environment for prediction platforms, which combine financial derivatives with event-based bets and have been subject to various investigations by federal and state regulators.
How Polymarket Turned a $1.4 Million Fine Into Full CFTC Approval
Polymarket, which has processed billions in trading volume this year on markets, elections, and entertainment, as well as economic indicators, received an Amended Order of Designation from the CFTC on November 25, 2025.
The new order designates the platform as a regulated Designated Contract Market, or DCM, allowing it to onboard American users through licensed Futures Commission Merchants and broker-dealers. The platform’s operations moving forward must also comply with federal standards for risk monitoring, trade clearing and reporting.
The approval is said to nullify a 2022 enforcement action that fined Polymarket $1.4 million for offering unregistered swaps and therefore banned it in the United States.
In a statement released by the platform, CEO Shayne Coplan described the approval as allowing “maturity and transparency,” which is in line with the rules of the United States. The CEO also noted that the crypto-friendly policies from the President Trump administration played an integral role in the process: a “key milestone for permeating the U.S. financial system.”
Polymarker, which acquired CFTC-registered exchange QCX in July 2025, is planning to partner with PrizePicks, the NHL, and the UFC to launch sports-related markets. A full relaunch in the United States is expected later this month, building on the betting platform’s reputation for real-time probability assessments, which is used by traders, journalists and analysts.
Federal Judge Sides With Nevada Regulators in Blow to Kalshi
Kalshi, the only other CFTC-designated prediction market, received an unfavorable ruling the same day in the United States District Court in Nevada.
Judge Andrew Gordon vacated a preliminary injunction he had issued in April, now taking side with the Nevada Gaming Control Board in a dispute over the platform’s sports event contracts.
Gordon’s 29-page opinion rejected Kalshi’s argument that the Commodity Exchange Act grants it exclusive federal preemption, referring to the contracts as unlicensed gambling under state law and requesting a gaming license. The judge’s decision restores a March cease-and-desist order, which will now pave the way for civil or criminal enforcement.
The NGCB, responsible for regulating Nevada’s $15 billion casino industry, promised to contest Kalshi’s motion for an emergency stay and to enforce compliance. “This defends our state’s gaming structure,” board spokeswoman Kim Sinatra said in a statement.
Kalshi’s head of corporate development, Sara Slane, pushed back, insisting the platform functions as a “nationwide exchange under exclusive federal jurisdiction,” different from traditional sportsbooks. The company plans to appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The loss further affects a circuit split, following Kalshi’s recent victory in California federal court, and could take the issue to the Supreme Court, possibly favoring and forcing patchwork state licensing.
The ruling is a testament to the hybrid status of prediction markets: federally backed innovation for hedging and discovery, and yet a form of gambling in gaming-stronghold states like Nevada. Polymarket’s greenlight could attract institutional liquidity, as Kalshi’s fight tests the boundaries of federal authority under the CEA.
