Blockchain.com has filed with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission to register as a futures commission merchant and to be designated as a designated contract market. The company announced the filing at 13:00 UTC on October 13, 2026, but did not include an application number or an approval timetable. If both are granted, Blockchain.com could run a regulated US exchange and brokerage under one roof, offering crypto futures, options, and event contracts to retail and institutional customers inside its existing app.
Two licenses, one stack
The two applications cover different halves of a derivatives business. DCM status is what lets a venue operate as an exchange; the CFTC describes a DCM as a board of trade under its oversight, with Part 38 of its regulations setting the procedures and requirements. FCM registration is what lets a firm solicit or accept customer orders for futures, options on futures, retail off-exchange forex, or swaps — and hold the customer money that supports those orders. The National Futures Association, which has handled FCM registration for the CFTC since 1984, spells out the paperwork on its side: Form 7-R, an NFA membership application, compliance requirements, a member questionnaire, and application fees and dues. Principals and associated persons face their own filing, fingerprinting, and proficiency requirements, and one principal has to serve as the firm's chief compliance officer.
In practice, the NFA's rulebook means a venue offering futures, options on futures, or commodity options to non-eligible contract participants generally needs DCM status unless an exemption or exclusion applies. Blockchain.com is going for the full version rather than an exempt route.
What the filing leaves out
The announcement is short on the specifics that would tell you what would actually trade. Blockchain.com didn't say which crypto assets would underlie the first futures or options, which events would be listed as prediction-market contracts, what collateral it would accept, or how customer assets would be held. It also didn't name a clearing organization, a market launch partner, or an initial contract.
That's a lot of blanks for a filing that, if approved, would put derivatives in front of US retail users. Clearing is usually the first question a derivatives venue has to answer, and it's not addressed here.
The business it already runs
Blockchain.com isn't starting from zero on this product surface. It already offers self-custodied prediction markets and perpetual futures in eligible markets outside the proposed US framework. The CFTC applications are about building a regulated US version of that, not about launching something new from scratch. The firm also said it has obtained Markets in Crypto-Assets authorization through its European entity, though the source material on that point is incomplete.
Worth being clear about what today's news is and isn't: this is a filing, not a launch. Nothing goes live because Blockchain.com submitted paperwork. The contracts described in the announcement don't exist yet for US customers.
What to watch
The next concrete item is the CFTC's review itself, and there's no published clock on it. The agency hasn't assigned a public application number, so there's nothing to track in the docket yet. The other open question is whether the NFA registration side moves in parallel or lags behind — FCM applicants have to clear membership requirements, not just the federal filing. Until either of those produces a document, the shape of a Blockchain.com US derivatives venue stays a plan on paper.
