More sports markets have been introduced to Crypto.com with the company focusing more squarely on the National Football League
That Crypto.com has thrown itself into the world of sports betting should not surprise the keen observer. The cryptocurrency exchange has been cosying up to sports for a long while, identifying its core demographic – young men – as some of the most susceptible consumers when it comes to crypto, betting, and sports.
First Crypto Brokerage Firm to Offer Sports Prediction Markets
In 2021, the platform bought the naming rights to the Los Angeles Lakers’ Staples Center, which has since been rechristened to Crypto.com Arena in a bit of an on-the-nose move for the company. Regardless, Crypto.com is thickening its ties with the sports ecosystem by launching more sports betting markets for players to choose from.
This comes only shortly after the company announced the launch of its sports betting product on December 23, 2024, although the company prefers to call them “sports event contracts,” and indeed, it is not a licensed sportsbook of any kind.
Yet, contracts bear resemblance to sports betting as they essentially allow participants to make a prediction on the outcome of an event – be that the US Presidential election or the Super Bowl. The firm has added NFL conference championship games, as well as bowl games and college football playoffs.
Crypto.com is not very likely to draw the line there and is probably experimenting with how far it can take its offer. Logistics are a major issue for sportsbooks as they require data and traders who are capable of setting the prices. However, Crypto.com is capable of circumventing this last part simply because trade contracts are not a traditional type of wager where a sportsbook has to set the odds.
Rather, the community will be betting and deciding for themselves, much like in the case of betting exchanges such as Betfair. Crypto.com has described its foray into the sports world and future contracts on sports events as “first of its kind,” and the company has a point as it is the first to venture into this type of prediction betting.
The choice of the National Football League, starting with the NFL, and now expanding into more options is not by chance either. Crypto.com is aware that the sport is by far the most famous in the country, generating the biggest betting handle and revenue, and has decided to venture into it first.
Crypto.com Leads the Way but Hardly Only Prediction Market Platform
Crypto.com is not the only company venturing into the field of using prediction markets in a way that has been said to resemble gambling at least to a degree. Robinhood, for example, also followed the example of Kalshi, and offered prediction markets for the US Presidential election in November.
Kalshi has been the true pioneer of these markets, however, leveraging its prediction markets to offer products on anything from sports to political races. Kalshi even fought and won a case against the US Community Future Trading Commission, whose boss is now stepping in ahead of the incoming Trump administration.
