Crypto.com Announces Standalone Prediction Market, Includes Margin Trading

• Platform will be the first of its kind to offer margin trading
• Announcement comes amid explosive prediction markets growth for the company
• Analyst sees industry volume topping a trillion contracts in 2027

Crypto.com said today it is launching a freestanding prediction markets business known as OG.com, which will be supported by the parent company’s Derivatives North America (CDNA) unit.

CDNA is registered with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), indicating OG.com has the licensing needed to run a prediction market in the US. News of Crypto.com’s standalone prediction markets platform arrives as the company says it’s experienced 40x weekly growth in that business over the past six months.

Crypto.com successfully built one of the largest brands and best app experiences in cryptocurrency during a period of hypergrowth amid a complex regulatory landscape, and now we will work to replicate this experience with OG in the prediction market space,” said CEO and co-founder Kris Marszalek in a statement.

Crypto.com Chief Legal Officer Nick Lundgren will serve as CEO of OG.com. He led the cryptocurrency broker’s move into sports event contracts in late 2024, which included the offering of a slew of event contracts on that year’s NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl.

OG.com Will Offer Margin Trading

OG.com is breaking new ground as it will be the first platform of its kind to offer margin trading — the act of borrowing money from a broker to purchase more securities.

“Under Reg T, a Federal Reserve Board rule, a trader can borrow up to 50% of the purchase price of securities that can be purchased on margin, also known as initial margin. Some securities have a higher margin requirement, thereby lowering the percentage that can be borrowed against the security,” according to Charles Schwab.

Margin trading is widely used by market participants, including retail, across traditional asset classes, but it’s possible the notion of borrowing capital to finance prediction markets trading could invite rebuke from critics claiming young retail traders embracing event contracts are already incurring too much risk.

OG.com Launch Could Prove Well-Timed

OG.com is debuting at a time of rapidly accelerating prediction markets growth and as both Wall Street and Main Street are exploring event contracts for new usage cases extending beyond pure betting.

“While plenty of long-term risks can be debated, we think the use cases for prediction market contracts are much too powerful to be downplayed,” wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Bedell in a note to clients today. “These include the potential for material alpha generation for investors (both retail/institutional and via speculation and hedging), a rising value placed on knowledge, and greatly enhanced quantity/quality of data and analytics.”

He estimates that in the US, event contract volume will swell beyond 1 trillion contracts in 2027, up from about 50 billion last year.